The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

San Pedro, CA is the scene of a battle between developers and locals, and local neighborhood councils are using increasingly sophisticated organizing tools to bring residents to the table.

March 12 - The Los Angeles Times

This piece from <em>The Economist</em> looks at human-caused waste, how different economies generate it differently, and how they deal with it.

March 12 - The Economist

A tent city is burgeoning in Sacramento, Calif., prompting local officials to consider whether such an encampment should be made permanent, with plumbing and all.

March 12 - The New York Times

Treehugger recently heralded fuel-producing algae the hottest green technology going. GOOD Magazine takes a clear-eyed look at the promise and the pitfalls.

March 12 - GOOD Magazine

As part of a larger series, NY Times guest blogger Eric A Morris talks about traffic in LA, and how the city's structure affects ease of transportation.

March 12 - Freakonomics - NY Times Blog

Pittsburgh's public art program has resulted in a number of new, contemporary works in public spaces, ranging from a futuristic mural called 'Yesterday's Tomorrow' to a giant, seated rabbit.

March 12 - Pop City Magazine

BLOG POST

Livable streets proponents look back on 2008 as the year some of the movement’s best laid plans became mainstream. Bicycle sharing systems launched in both Washington DC and Montreal. Auto-dependent Charlotte saw its LYNX light rail surpass 2025 ridership projections, while Seattle also beat ridership projections on its snazzy new Streetcar. And New York City and Portland continued to reclaim space for less auto-centric uses—witnessing 35% and 25% growth respectively in bicycle mode share.

March 11 - Mike Lydon

Some cities in Los Angeles were caught cutting deals to sell shares of their federal stimulus funds to the highest bidder. The MTA has put the kibosh on any money swapping.

March 11 - The San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Though challenged with facing a multi-tiered government, Nicholas Sarkozy has nonetheless devised one of the most ambitious plans ever for Paris. To reimagine this bolder, greener "Grand Paris," he has put 10 teams of architects and planners to work.

March 11 - AFP

Since the creation of the Interstate highway system, Americans have never ridden public transportation as heavily as they did in 2008. This year, however, the upward trend will probably not continue.

March 11 - The New York Times

Ray LaHood rejected raising the gas tax, then President Obama rejected a vehicle-miles-traveled fee. What's left is "out-of-the-box" ideas like tolling and public-private-partnerships.

March 11 - The Wall Street Journal

As money-poor mega-developments become less feasible to construct, builders may soon have to revert to developing at a smaller scale--a strategy that makes still more sense economically.

March 11 - Greater Greater Washington

Car-free for more than 15 years, Chicago opened its dying pedestrian mall on State Street to vehicular traffic in 1996, with huge success. Should Boston planners and officials consider a similar strategy for its Downtown Crossing?

March 11 - The Boston Globe

A group of surfers has successfully blocked an environmentally-harmful beach dredging and repair project in Florida, at least temporarily. The project was meant to counteract beach erosion problems, but was protested over concerns about local reefs.

March 11 - The New York Times

This piece from <em>Metropolis</em> looks at a rail line that was converted into a bike trail in Detroit, and how it has become a well-used neighborhood connector.

March 11 - Metropolis

The Seasteading Institute claims to be only a few years away from launching a prototype of a floating city.

March 11 - CNN

As commercial vacancies increase, cities are feeling the pain of lower tax revenues.

March 11 - BusinessWeek

Roads and bridges are crumbling in America. The Highway Trust Fund is broke and new revenue other than stimulus funds are unlikely, so some state transportation officials are applying innovative methods to spread the road funding they have secured.

March 10 - Parade

BrandWeek says that the downturn in the economy makes more ads in public spaces 'a no-brainer', because cities get revenue and advertisers get exposure in previously untapped locations.

March 10 - BrandWeek

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; line-height: normal" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri">Is a $50,000 annual income wealth or poverty in North America? By historical or international standards such an income should be considered wealthy and luxurious, but most people I know consider it poverty because of the high cost of living. </span> </p>

March 10 - Todd Litman