The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>This just in from The Onion.</p>

August 1 - The Onion

<p>Author Alan Ehrenhalt says that conditions are ripe for the permanent return of downtown residential neighborhoods, and that a "demographic inversion" has already begun in Manhattan, Chicago and Washington, DC, among other cities.</p>

August 1 - The New Republic

<p>In the same week that Congress passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, Los Angeles announcemed the New Generation Fund, a $100 million program for affordable housing.</p>

August 1 - The Planning Report

<p>A popular swimming area at the San Diego area beach of La Jolla has been overrun by seals, making swimming unsafe. Many community members want the seals out, but animal rights activists say they should be allowed to stay.</p>

August 1 - The Christian Science Monitor

<p>This article from <em>USA Today</em> looks at how some big cities are reacting to rising energy prices. Two examples from metropolitan Phoenix highlight the fact that it is not only suburbs that are being forced to respond.</p>

August 1 - USA Today

<p>As the downtown master plan of Baton Rouge turns ten years old, planners are looking at the next stages of development. They say eight factors play into making this and other downtowns successful.</p>

August 1 - Baton Rouge Business Report

<p>An online "time bank" has opened in Los Angeles, allowing members to barter services with each other.</p>

August 1 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>A $300 million mixed-use development is bringing new life to a long-neglected industrial district of Providence, RI.</p>

August 1 - The New York Times

<p>Christopher Hume argues that Toronto's planners, in planning for easy vehicle access to the revitalizing waterfront, will be harming it as a pedestrian environment.</p>

August 1 - The Toronto Star

<p>Orange County, CA's new $480 million Groundwater Replenishment System is the world’s largest water recycling facility of its kind. It can turn wastewater and into drinking water, churning out up to 70 million gallons a day.</p>

August 1 - The Christian Science Monitor

<p>Rising energy prices and falling home values are bringing many exurban dwellers closer to the city core. In this commentary, Keith Schneider argues that central cities and inner-ring suburbs need to work with each other to stay afloat.</p>

July 31 - Citiwire

<p>Keep gas and diesel taxes stable and add new road tolls and private investment, and the road funding deficit will be solved, according to the new Bush transportation plan released July 30.</p>

July 31 - The Wall Street Journal

Flowing Data used zip codes and other data to create an animated map showing the growth of WalMart from the first store in Arkansas in 1962 until today, when the map is covered with stores.

July 31 - Flowing Data

<p>Author Bill Bishop discusses the "big sort" that's resulting in increasingly homogeneous voting patterns in the segment on Comedy Central's <em>Daily Show</em>.</p>

July 31 - The Daily Show

<p>In a last-minute effort to beautify the city before the start of the 2008 Summer Olympics, officials in Beijing have put up walls and screens to hide unsightly neighborhoods from the eyes of visitors. Those behind the walls are not happy.</p>

July 31 - The New York Times

<p>Stores in Vancouver suburbs have installed a device outside their stores called a 'Mosquito' that emits a high-pitched frequency that the average adult can't hear. The device is effective in decreasing vandalism, but at what cost to public space?</p>

July 31 - The National Post

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> Visual communication is becoming more sophisticated in planning, however many online image sources are restricted and require payment for use. Others, such as flikr.com and Google Images are extremely useful but have uneven quality and information provided about the images can be difficult to assess. While flckr.com and Google Images will remain a key resource, a number of other online image databases provide more consistent metadata along with free access. </p>

July 31 - Ann Forsyth

<p>In the face of alarming obesity rates among many of its low-income residents, LA's City Council has voted to approve a moratorium on the construction of new fast-food restaurants in South LA.</p>

July 31 - The Globe and Mail

<p>'The Brownstones' is the name of a new housing development in Oklahoma City, an example of how urbanity is becoming a lifestyle choice. The video is highly promotional, but is worth watching to see the 'brownstone style" development in its setting.</p>

July 31 - The Oklahoman

<p>The amount of people living in homeless shelters and on U.S. streets has dropped roughly 30% since 2005, according to recent statistics compiled by the federal government.</p>

July 31 - The New York Times