The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>This editorial from Boulder, Colorado's <em>Daily Camera</em> takes a critical look at the projected demographic shifts that some say would be created by a proposed transit village in the city.</p>

September 26 - Boulder Daily Camera

<p>Portland, Oregon's plans to expand its streetcar system are meeting some resistance from the federal government, which has identified bus rapid transit as its pubic transit investment of choice.</p>

September 26 - The Oregonian

<p>Fast-paced growth in Loudoun County, Virginia, has created the need for more schools. In the past 11 years 37 have been built, boasting the precision and efficiency of an assembly line. But is faster better?</p>

September 26 - The Washington Post

This commentary from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer looks at the idea that buildings can make us happy, and asks why we put up with buildings that make us unhappy.

September 26 - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

<p>After years of trying to get more properties built for sale downtown, new urban infill projects are springing up in Sacramento's core.</p>

September 26 - The Sacramento Bee

<p>Clichy-sous-Bois, the Paris suburb that ignited angry rioting amongst France's young minorities in 2005, is still waiting on the government to provide for its struggling populace.</p>

September 26 - Bloomberg

BLOG POST

<p><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana">Since making the switch from architecture to planning / urban design, I’ve been fascinated by the continuing dialogue that surrounds what we do to explain… what we do.<span> </span>There is less emphasis on this dialogue in architecture of course as the tacit assumption is that architects build.<span> </span>(I would say not all great architects need to build but this is a debate for a different setting.)<span> </span>What did often emerge in architecture was the common concern that “design” is not valued to the degree that it should.<span> </span>And why not?<span> </span>Architects spend anywhere from 5-6 years in school the majority of which is spent in studio learning how to design.<span> </span>Who wants to then enter the profession feeling like their education mis-led them?<span>

September 25 - Scott Page

<p>Researchers in the UK are working to create a database of urban sounds -- both the good and the bad -- in an effort to help planners, designers, and architects create cities everyone wants to listen to.</p>

September 25 - The Observer

<p>New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority is considering a plan to charge transit riders less during off-peak hours.</p>

September 25 - The New York Times

<p>This four-part blog from <em>Wired</em> gives a nuts-and-bolts look at bus rapid transit, using examples of planned systems, successful systems, and troubled systems.</p>

September 25 - Wired

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">What if the utility company asked you how much you made when you called to start service in a new home?<span>  </span>What if they wanted this information to tie your bill to your salary and not to how much gas, electricity or water you used? <span> </span>Would that seem fair?<span>  </span>That’s how some communities are treating developers when determining how much stormwater they should be required to manage. <span> </span>But regulations that link stormwater standards to the developer’s ability to pay are neither fair nor efficient. <span> </span>Environmental regulations and their costs should be directly linked to the impact on the environment, not to profit margins.</font></p>

September 25 - Anonymous

<p>Following up on a Cato report blasting planning in Portland, the Congress for the New Urbanism offers a fact-check in which Michael Lewyn contends Randal O'Toole's findings are inaccurate and flawed.</p>

September 25 - The Congress for the New Urbanism

<p>The Purdue University researcher who revealed that there is more than three times more parking than drivers in one county in Indiana is looking to expand his count to the entire nation.</p>

September 25 - The Christian Science Monitor

<p>For residents and public officials in the "spiritual home" of Scientology, the presence of the church and its followers is hard to ignore. But it is also easy for the city to enjoy the economic benefit the church brings.</p>

September 25 - Associated Press via The York Dispatch

<p>Plans are under consideration for a massive port redevelopment in Jamaica that could create one of the most active shipping ports in the Caribbean.</p>

September 25 - Jamaica Gleaner

<p>Bilbao, Spain, has undergone a noticeable rejuvenation in the 10 years since Frank Gehry's iconic Guggenheim Museum opened its doors.</p>

September 25 - The New York Times

<p>Government research form British Columbia has shown that it costs cities more than $12,000 per homeless person per year. Some are saying it would be cheaper for the city to give them housing than to keep them on the streets.</p>

September 25 - Times Colonist

<p>This report from <em>National Public Radio</em> looks at Maryland's Resident Curatorship program -- a method of historic preservation that allows people to live rent-free in historic homes in exchange for performing preservation work.</p>

September 25 - NPR

<p>With the downturn in the housing market, a planned luxury condo tower in Downtown San Diego has been reworked into an affordable housing development.</p>

September 24 - The San Diego Union-Tribune

<p>Over the last two decades, immigration has "feminized" -- there are now more female immigrants than male immigrants. This change should impact housing and educational policies for immigrants, writes professor Ali Modarres in an academic paper.</p>

September 24 - Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute of Public Affairs