The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

FEATURE

These are just a few of the ways Prof. Peter Bosselman of UC Berkeley analyzes the built environment in his latest book, <em>Urban Transformation: Understanding City Design and Form.</em> Julia Galef brings us this review.

May 14 - Julia Galef

An article in the New York Times this week profiled Vauban, Germany, a town without cars. NYTime's Room for Debate Blog asked planners and developers to envision a car-free town in America.

May 13 - The New York Times

Richard Register argues that we can do much more to redesign cities and city functions to reduce energy consumption, primarily by ceasing to plan for automobiles.

May 13 - Foreign Policy in Focus

At the sixth busiest stop on the busiest train line in the country, developers are realizing the potential for transit-oriented development around the station.

May 13 - The Architect's Newspaper

This piece from <em>Utne Reader</em> looks at Ecuador's recent extension of inalienable rights to nature and why other countries should follow this lead.

May 13 - Utne Reader

BLOG POST

<span style="font-size: small"> <p> Can a city&#39;s &quot;design culture&quot; be deliberately grown and fostered? If so, can City Hall be part of such a fostering, or must it come from the grass roots, from the cultural or design communities themselves? </p> <p> Readers know I&#39;ve been musing on these questions for a while. A few years back, after arriving here in Vancouver, I wrote on the difference between our city&#39;s reputation as a <a href="/node/23462" target="_blank">&quot;city BY design&quot;,</a> and the reputation some other cities have, as &quot;cities OF design&quot;. </p>

May 13 - Brent Toderian

The ongoing effort to improve Japantown shows just how difficult it can be to shed the past.

May 13 - The San Francisco Chronicle

In a now infamous speech to the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Prince accused architects of having "a surfeit of abstracted ideology over the practical realities linked to people’s lives and the grain of their culture and identity."

May 13 - Bloomberg.com

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will officially open the new pedestrian transit plaza on 17th St., built on a swath of land in the Castro district that until recently allowed cars.

May 13 - Streetsblog SF

Buildings are designed to ensure fully mechanized comfort. Architect Terri Meyer Boake argues that designers need to think in terms of a spectrum of comfort in designing the reduced-impact buildings of the future.

May 13 - Treehugger

In Dublin, CA, the failure of a slew of big box retailers has created retail deadzones, dragging down local businesses and economies.

May 13 - San Francisco Chronicle

Atlanta is seen by many as the economic powerhouse of the South. But some say Charlotte's progress in providing transit and reducing traffic may begin to tip the scales.

May 13 - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Vauban, Germany is a new suburb that is part of the 'smart planning movement'. It is car-free, i.e. the streets are car-free, while car ownership is allowed but restricted to two garages, and the cost unbundled. Only 30% of families own cars.

May 12 - The New York Times - Environment

Crushed by the falling economy, failing retail spaces are renting their storefronts to make a some extra cash.

May 12 - The New York Times

A company called Fastskinz thinks so. They've created a vinyl car wrap based on the aerodynamic evidence from golf balls that an uneven surface creates less drag. Popular Mechanics puts the theory to the test.

May 12 - Popular Mechanics

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said recently that California and Florida are likely to be the first recipients of stimulus funding for high speed rail projects.

May 12 - The Wall Street Journal

<em>Prevention</em> magazine has pulled together a list of the top 25 American cities for walking.

May 12 - Prevention

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has set aside $980 million for Community Development Block Grants, which will be split among 1,200 governments.

May 12 - Architectural Record

Michigan's Mackinac Island has been car-free since 1898. GOOD Magazine pays a visit to the island and finds that far from being Luddite, the island is very progressive, from extensive wifi to hydroelectric power.

May 12 - GOOD Magazine

In this column, CA Lt. Gov. John Garamendi supports a regional plan to create a HOT lane network in the Bay Area, permitting single occupant vehicles to buy into the fast lanes, creating a new source of regional revenue to fund express bus service.

May 12 - The California Majority Report