The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

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<p><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana">Often times I’m struck by the advances we’ve made in mapping, modeling and depicting our cities.  What was once the purview of mapmakers, surveyors or architects is now a democratized, engaging process that brings unexpected results.  And the more advanced the technology, the more transparent our cities seem to become.  </span></p>

January 11 - Scott Page

<p>The fate of industrial properties is the subject of a huge, ongoing battle in Los Angeles. City planners and economic development boosters want to prevent conversions to residential uses — much to the consternation of free-market advocates.</p>

January 11 - California Planning & Development Report

<p>Efforts to improve Europe's network of high-speed rail systems may also result in loosened border crossing rules.</p>

January 11 - Der Spiegel

<p>Engineers have cited safety concerns in advising against tree planting along streets, but recent research shows that the rare tree-lined street may be less dangerous than the much more common street lined with parked cars.</p>

January 11 - Access

<p>As part of a week-long series, Randal O'Toole and blogger Will Campbell discuss and debate bike commuting and what cities should or shouldn't do to encourage it.</p>

January 11 - The Los Angeles Times

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The Wacker’s Manual of the Plan of Chicago: Municipal Economy, first written in 1911 as a way to educate Chicago students about the City’s Plan of 1909, provides remarkable insight into America’s diminished socio-cultural ambitions.

January 11 - Mike Lydon

<p>This report from <em>NPR</em> looks at the growing pains experienced by one Seattle suburb.</p>

January 11 - NPR

<p>This video from <em>Streetfilms</em> looks at the bike boxes painted on New York's streets and explain how to use them.</p>

January 11 - Streetsblog

<p>This article form <em>The New York Times</em> looks at the success of Times Square and talks with real estate experts about whether this success is really such a good thing.</p>

January 10 - The New York Times

<p>Montreal may have been a "city of design" when it hosted 1967's World Fair and UNESCo says it still is. But one prominent Canadian architect is skeptical.</p>

January 10 - Dwell

<p>In this article from <em>Access</em>, authors David King, Michael Manville and Donald Shoup suggest that distributing the revenue created by road tolling and congestion pricing will make the controversial idea more politically viable.</p>

January 10 - Access

<p>The Tucson-Phoenix region needs to start thinking about the long-term transit solution of high-speed rail, according to this op-ed.</p>

January 10 - The Arizona Republic

<p>With the $10 billion bond slated for the November ballot in California, the latest twist in the long saga of delays is that environmentalists, unhappy with the proposed route into the Bay Area from the Central Valley, threaten to litigate the EIR.</p>

January 10 - East Bay Express

<p><em>Gothamist</em> talks with Ted Kheel, the man behind a private study examining how adjusting New York's congestion pricing system could make transit free in the city.</p>

January 10 - Gothamist

<p>Taxpayers in Forth Worth are paying millions per year to lease parking spaces to provide free parking downtown, enabled by a TIF that is supposed to build infrastructure in a blighted area. Many are calling it a misuse of taxpayer money.</p>

January 10 - Fort Worth Weekly

<p>Citing the extraordinary impact of the subprime lending fiasco on minority households, the City of Baltimore is suing Wells Fargo for lost property tax revenue and the increased costs the city is now facing as a result of mass foreclosures.</p>

January 10 - The New York Times

<p>By staking claim to public space, Critical Mass rides are a powerful means of supporting First Amendment rights to free speech and free assembly, according to this piece from <em>Yes! Magazine</em>.</p>

January 10 - Yes! Magazine

<p>With the 2008 Olympics heading to Beijing, Chinese officials are looking at ways to reduce pollution and improve air quality by the time the games begin. But locals are also starting to think about life after the games.</p>

January 10 - The New York Times

<p>In this column, APA Executive Director Paul Farmer expounds on the other professions that are inappropriately making planning decisions, and discusses how New Urbanists are close to repeating the mistakes of other modernist movements.</p>

January 9 - Planning

The Brickell District in downtown Miami is fast becoming the epicenter of condo unit foreclosure in southern Florida.

January 9 - The Miami Herald