The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
The Marseille Model
<p>As racial tensions erupt across France, the diverse city of Marseille has remained calm. Many look to it as a model for the future of an increasingly ethnically-mixed France and Europe.</p>
Louisville Metro Stepping Up Its Planning for Pedestrians
<p>Jerry Abramson, mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, has announced plans to invest $100,000 in creating a pedestrian plan for his city.</p>
The New Suburban Ghetto
<p>High foreclosure rates are turning Charlotte's new starter home suburbs into bastions of crime and decay.</p>
Bangalore Techies Advocate For Bicycling Amenities
<p>As the city traffic grinds to a crawl due to the rising amount of vehicles on the road, techies in Bangalore have taken a liking to commuting on bicycles.</p>
Creativity Needed To Solve L.A.'s Traffic Problems
<p>This piece from the <em>Los Angeles Times</em> takes a look at two big ideas for fixing L.A.'s congestion: subway and monorail.</p>
Walkability Report Raises Questions and Doubts
<p><em>California Planning and Development Report</em>'s Paul Shigley reviews the recent report on walkability released by the Brookings Institution and finds some of its claims dubious.</p>
Houston Makes Agreement With Advertiser To Cut 800 Billboards
<p>The City of Houston has come to an agreement with Clear Channel Advertising for the company to remove about 800 billboards from the city -- the result of a citywide plan to clean up the city's "visual clutter" that started more than 20 years ago.</p>
Main Street Preservation Aims Harm Economy
<p>This article from <em>Reason</em> looks at a regulatory system in Alexandria, Virginia, that seeks to maintain the city's historic Old Town neighborhood. But is the regulation burdening local businesses owners to the point of hurting the economy?</p>
Amtrak: Maybe Now?
<p>With increasing train ridership and more people shying away from the gas pump, Neal Peirce asks whether now might be Amtrak's time to shine.</p>
Cars Take Back Seat in Planned Transit-Friendly Street
<p>In Toronto, planners have unveiled a street design that separates a planned streetcar line from auto traffic, bike lanes, and parking. Many are calling it a first for the city -- making the street decidedly transit- and pedestrian-friendly.</p>
The Expanding Subway of Beijing
<p>This blog post from <em>Wired</em> takes a look at the expanding subway system of Beijing, China -- a system that is expected to become the world's second largest by 2015.</p>
Canada's Capital Errors
<p>Thanks to a series of "lousy" public policy decisions, Ottawa - Canada's national capital - is growing increasingly dysfunctional, writes Jeffrey Simpson.</p>
Lagos: Africa's New York City
<p>This video from <em>Current</em> profiles Lagos, Nigeria, the world's fastest growing megacity.</p>
Closing Schools Opens Doors
<p>On the tail of a recent announcement that Washington D.C. would decommission up to two dozen public schools, columnist Roger K. Lewis suggests that the closings can be a good thing, and that they open the door for adaptive reuse.</p>
Car-Free Days Flood London With Pedestrians -- And Commerce
<p>Temporarily pedestrianized streets in London brought nearly a million people out for a day of walking and shopping recently, resulting in more than $200 million worth of sales.</p>
Walls Create Safety, Segregation In Baghdad
<p>More and more walls are rising in Baghdad neighborhoods, giving areas a calmer, safer feel. But the walls also create a prison-like atmosphere and many residents are conflicted about the tradeoff.</p>
Is This Liquor Store An Amenity Or A Nuisance?
<p>In a gentrifying neighborhood in Washington D.C., residents are campaigning against a local liquor store they say encourages littering and public drunkenness. But longtime neighborhood residents defend the store, calling it a neighborhood staple.</p>
Small Towns Look To Keep Young Professionals By Increasing Affordable Housing
<p>County officials in New York are looking to award more than $87 million to small towns to increase their stock of affordable housing -- an effort aimed at luring and keeping young professionals. But opposition to this development type is a hurdle.</p>
Universal Sanitation Far Off In Brazil
<p>At the current rate of infrastructure spending for sewer construction and other sanitation measures, there won't be universal access to sanitation in Brazil fore more than 115 years.</p>
Development And Logging To Blame In Flood
<p>Devastating floods in the southern Washington community of Chehalis have many tracing the roots of the problem back to clear-cut logging and a long pattern of unchecked floodplain development.</p>
Tyler Technologies
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
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