The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The public comment period at a recent planning commission meeting in Wheaton, Illinois was commandeered by resident Joann Davies, who aggressively demanded that a variety of land uses be approved in her neighborhood.

April 1 - Planetizen April 1st Edition

BLOG POST

Is it a wise use of taxpayers dollars to spend $13 billion in the next five years ($8 billion in the recovery package and $5 billion in the next five annual appropriations) in a down payment on constructing a high-speed rail network? Or are there better ways to spend this money on transportation? That was the subject of a recent weekly debate on the National Journal's Transportation Blog. The debate revealed a spectrum of opinion among the contributors, with proponents of high-speed rail outnumbering the doubters by a wide margin.

March 31 - Kenneth Orski

BLOG POST

<p> Watching <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slumdog_Millionaire">Slumdog Millionaire</a>, the Oscar winning film of 2008 that is being released <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Slumdog-Millionaire-Dev-Patel/dp/B001P9KR8U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=dvd&amp;qid=1238435270&amp;sr=1-1">on DVD today</a>, can be a bracing experience for those accustomed to the conveniences of Western living. The destitute living is accurately and graphically depicted and is all too real for those that have seen it. Yet, the real danger is letting the poverty obscure a larger, perhaps more important lesson about urban places: Many of these urban slums are functioning, productive cities in their own right, and represent an intergenerational path toward economic improvement. </p>

March 31 - Samuel Staley

Concrete in a Minneapolis bridge replacing that which collapsed in 2007 is made of a concoction that boasts less environmental impact and durability. And it's self-cleaning.

March 31 - The New York Times

In many areas, housing on the suburban fringe has gone rental. The shift indicates mobility on the part of renters who want to stay put, but could also be a precursor for a low-income future for the exurbs.

March 31 - The Wall Street Journal

The near-bankruptcy of the American auto industry is just the latest in a long history of challenges Detroit has endured.

March 31 - The Globe and Mail

This piece form the <em>Modesto Bee</em> looks at the growth and housing bust that has dramatically affected California's San Joaquin Valley -- home to some of the nation's highest rates of foreclosure.

March 31 - The Modesto Bee

The mayor of Jerusalem is seeking to cancel plans for expanding the city's light rail system in favor of buses, which he is calling a less expensive and more flexible alternative.

March 31 - The Jerusalem Post

Officials in Miami are looking to cancel out part of a contract with architect Frank Gehry for a park element to the new campus he's designed for the city's New World Symphony. The city wants to find a cheaper alternative, but critics are opposed.

March 31 - The Miami Herald

BLOG POST

<p> As you may have heard in yesterday&#39;s <a href="/podcast">Planetizen Podcast</a>, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/21/AR2009032102248.html">doesn&#39;t like cul-de-sacs</a>. </p> <p> Most news reports on the story have claimed that the state is &quot;forbidding,&quot; &quot;banning,&quot; or even &quot;outlawing&quot; the cul-de-sac. In fact, Virginia municipalities can still design, build, and approve any road patterns they wish, but the State will no longer agree to foot the bill for the ongoing maintenance of cul-de-sacs. The news item came up in a staff meeting yesterday and one colleague told us that a friend he was having dinner with declared the move &quot;Un-American!&quot; </p>

March 31 - Jess Zimbabwe

Despite some states using stimulus money to fund sprawl-inducing projects, Colorado seems to be avoiding projects that encourage exurban growth, according to this review.

March 31 - The Colorado Independent

Despite advocating for an end to ground-floor garages, a neighborhood group in Philadelphia is now asking for an exemption to the rule it wrote against them.

March 31 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

As theorists predict we are entering the age of the city, <em>Boston Globe</em> architecture critic Robert Campbell reflects on what this shift will mean and how Boston's landscape will change as a result.

March 31 - The Boston Globe

Amid the recession, industrial towns in the Rust Belt have been forced to evolve as jobs dry up. But this is nothing new for the region, where towns have been re-imagining their economies for decades. <em>NPR</em> reports.

March 31 - NPR

BLOG POST

<span style="font-size: small"> <p> In a past post, I wrote on the plan to urbanize Vancouver&#39;s Oakridge Centre, our first car-oriented &quot;suburban&quot; shopping centre <a href="/node/35542" target="_blank">(see past post here for information, report-links and images)</a>. Some have asked how the downturn has affected the plans to proceed - as we were only anticipating going through the next steps of planning and design (rezoning) in the next year or so, with some time before the owners were planning on initiating the physical transformation of the mall, I believe they remain in &quot;wait-and-see&quot; mode regarding possible timing of first phases, relative to the market.

March 30 - Brent Toderian

BLOG POST

Since the passage of <a href="http://www.fcc.gov/telecom.html">The Telecommunications Act of 1996</a>, media activists have been warning that a combination of consolidated corporate ownership of media outlets and a correspondingly intense profit orientation is resulting in diminished diversity of opinion, an avoidance of controversies and loss of choice for media consumers. In particular, they are concerned that remotely-owned newspapers, television and radio stations are incapable of adequately meeting local information needs, reporting on local issues and expressing local concerns.<br />

March 30 - Michael Dudley

As business slows down, road construction contractors are slashing their prices. They're offering lower bids to states across the country for road work, leading many transportation officials to foresee more work able to be funded by the stimulus.

March 30 - The New York Times

Population estimates mean that the Portland region will need about 300,000 additional homes by 2030. Where they should all go is up for debate.

March 30 - The Oregonian

This report from <em>KQED</em> radio looks at efforts to craft a replacement for the Kyoto Protocols.

March 30 - KQED

The stimulus plan includes $8 billion for investments in high-speed rail, but some critics point out that this isn't nearly enough to bring these plans to fruition.

March 30 - MSNBC