The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Gary Mason describes how Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson's policy of rapid expansion of homeless shelters -- including two in residential areas -- has "completely changed" those neighborhoods.

June 26 - The Globe and Mail

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's grand plans for 10 carbon-neutral 'eco-towns' haven't lived up to their fanfare, according to some. Now as things move forward, the goals have been watered down a bit.

June 26 - Architects' Journal

Residents in 600 American neighborhoods are breathing air with levels of pollution that put them at an elevated risk of developing cancer.

June 26 - Associated Press

<em>Next American City</em>'s Hamida Kinge reviews the "State of the Air" report from the American Lung Association and finds dire news for the majority of Americans.

June 26 - Next American City

At the PCBC builder's conference in San Francisco, the award-winning designs were 'smaller, greener, more urban and more affordable.'

June 26 - Builder Magazine

The Bicycle and Pedestrian Landscape Improvement Project of Queens Plaza is intended to create a gateway to Long Island City.

June 26 - THE DIRT

A new system of bike storage debuts in Palo Alto and Redwood City, CA next week. The Bike Arc aims to be more elegant and space-saving than the standard U-shaped rack.

June 26 - The Architect's Newspaper

BLOG POST

<p> The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that in 2007, over 9.8 million American households had no auto available at home. Although those car free households make up only 8.7% of the U.S., the split by housing ownership is striking: only 3.3% of owner occupied homes do without at least one vehicle, where fully 19.9% of renters have no cars parked in the proverbial driveway. </p> <p> For some, not owning a vehicle is not a matter of choice -- just the reality of limited resources. For others, it&#39;s a matter of preference, and many residents of cities with fairly good public transportation choosing to go without cars. Although car ownership is a useful indicator of neighborhoods that provide good options for public transit, the reality is the most important variable isn&#39;t whether you own one, but how much you <em>drive</em>. </p> <p> That&#39;s the idea behind the annual Car-Free Challenge sponsored by the San Francisco Bay Area nonprofit <a href="http://www.transformca.org/">TransForm</a> (formerly TALC - Transportation and Land Use Coalition). The Challenge&#39;s over 160 participants pledged to drive less than 125 miles in June, much less than the Bay Area average of 540, or the U.S. average of over 1,000. Many participants contributed blog posts about their experiences on the <a href="http://www.transformca.org/car-free/challenge-posts">Challenge website</a>. More than just a group of footloose young professionals living in The Mission, challenge participants were remarkably diverse group living mostly in the Bay Area but also Sacramento, Los Angeles, and cities outside of California. </p>

June 25 - Robert Goodspeed

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) says service cuts are imminent, and invites the public to weigh in on how the cuts will play out.

June 25 - Chicago Tribune

A report from the US Census Bureau shows that the nation continues to suburbanize.

June 25 - New Geography

U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer expresses his support for the American Clean Energy and Security Act as the House of Representatives prepares for a vote.

June 25 - The Huffington Post

Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood is developing into a new high-tech hub in the city.

June 25 - The New York Times

Author Greg Gardin travels from Michigan to the Amazon to show how the Fordist economy's reductionistic search for efficiencies led to its own -- and Detroit's -- downfall.

June 25 - TomDispatch.com

Bob Yaro of the Regional Plan Association walks around Midtown Manhattan, reflecting on the effect megaprojects like the modern Penn Station and Javits Center have had on the city.

June 25 - Urban Omnibus

A new KFC/Taco Bell combo restaurant in Northhampton, Massachusetts has been awarded LEED certification.

June 25 - Yum! Brands

European cities are experimenting with trains that can switch from heavy rail (to reach suburbs on existing tracks) and street-running fixed link systems (to reach city centers).

June 25 - City Mayors

This profile from <em>Miller-McCune</em> looks at a Berkeley, California official who made use of a 100-year old funding mechanism to take the city solar.

June 25 - Miller-McCune

Calgary's proposed plan "Plan It" seeks to lay out the city's future for the next 60 years, and it represents a dramatic shift away from unregulated suburbanization. It faces a lot of opposition.

June 25 - The Globe and Mail

FEATURE

As America's metropolitan areas meld into "megaregions", officials and policymakers will need to figure out how to deal with their shared and growing infrastructure problems. Consider the ball rolling.

June 25 - Nate Berg

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri">Planning issues are often considered to be conflicts between the interests of different groups, such as neighborhood residents versus developers, or motorist versus transit users. But planning concerns the future, so it often consists of a conflict between the interests of our current and future selves. </span> </p>

June 25 - Todd Litman