The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Reinventing A Downtown Civic Plaza
<p>City leaders in Raleigh, North Carolina, are planning to transform a underutilized downtown plaza into a new public square.</p>
Living In A Food Desert
<p>Researchers in Rhode Island find that residents in many parts of the state lack easy access to food.</p>
Is Joel Kotkin The Anti-Planner?
<p>Los Angeles pundit Joel Kotkin's most recent diatribe about the alleged "Manhattanization" of Los Angeles has put Bill Fulton over the edge. Kotkin's arguments are old, tired and contradictory, says Fulton.</p>
Will Architects And Planners Fail The World's Urban Dwellers?
<p>With rapid urbanization overtaking the world, experts worry that planners and architects are too few and lack experience to tackle the coming challenge.</p>
Bringing Seoul To Los Angeles
<p>Korean American architect Christopher Pak is successfully bringing high density living to Los Angeles.</p>
Taking Transit 'Out' Of The City
<p>While more work needs to be done to make transit work for urban dwellers, thought should also be given to how transit can let those car-free city residents reach the great outdoors.</p>
Why Cities Should Raise Their Parking Rates
<p>Market-based pricing for street parking could help cities like Boston reduce congestion and raise badly needed revenue.</p>
Wal-Mart Town Center Project Is Missing The Town Center
<p>In North Lauderdale, Florida, a Wal-Mart-anchored town center is struggling to live up to its promises.</p>
A Boomtown Built On Illegal Immigration
<p>In the Mexican city of Altar, just 60 miles from the U.S. border, a booming economy has built itself around catering to those looking to make the treacherous walk through the desert to cross into the U.S.</p>
Funding And Timing Issues Critical To Creation Of Transit In Tampa
<p>With three different public transit funding plans up for consideration, officials in Tampa, Florida, are trying to decide which is the best and when is the best time to start the work on the city's long-sought transit system.</p>
Good Management The Secret To Successful Communities
<p>Cerritos, California, has become one of the more successful suburbs of Los Angeles by applying superb management techniques.</p>
BLOG POST
Design is Social Activism
“I have always thought that design can be a form of social activism,” says Don Meeker, environmental graphic designer and co-creator of “Clearview” typeface. This small but radical quotation was buried in an article from the 8.12.07 NY Times Sunday magazine (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/magazine/12fonts-t.html" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/magazine/12fonts-t.html</a>) on the redesign of highway sign typeface. Meeker, James Montalbano, and a team of collaborators understood that it was the design of highway signage that was contributing to highway fatalities. They applied an understanding of human psychology and function to the solution of a “civic issue.” <br /><br />Radical idea. It’s called Universal Design. Or social activism.
U.S. Cities Feel Hurt Of Tourism Slump
<p>The amount of overseas tourists visiting the U.S. has dropped recently, and with revenues in many cities taking a hit, a coalition of American mayors are calling on the federal government to loosen restrictions on foreign travelers.</p>
Updating New York's Bicycle Network
<p>Plans to expand the bicycle network in New York City are underway as part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's long-term plan to make the city more environmentally friendly. But proposals to increase the city's bike lanes are meeting opposition from locals.</p>
Environmental Protection Through Cap-And-Trade
<p>As carbon trading systems gain notoriety as successful methods of protecting those natural resources that are good at sequestering the harmful emission, some see a bright future for similar cap-and-trade systems to preserve nature for its benefits.</p>
Poor Benefitting From 'Poverty Tours'
<p>In the squatter settlements in South African slums, a burgeoning new industry is developing around so-called "poverty tours", where Western tourists are taken off the beaten tour path to see what life is like in impoverished squatter communities.</p>
Water Shortages Alter Growth Patterns In Las Vegas
<p>Low water supplies are forcing changes to the growth patterns of booming Las Vegas, Nevada.</p>
California Publishes New Hazard Mitigation Draft Plan
<p>The California Hazard Mitigation Plan (SHMP) is the state's plan for reshaping and strengthening the built environment to significantly reduce disaster losses created by natural and human-caused hazards.</p>
The Line Between Fighting Gentrification And Plain-Old NIMBY
<p>When does an 'anti-gentrification group' cross the line to simply stopping progress in a community? That charge has been leveled against San Francisco's Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition after the city's environmental review process was expanded.</p>
An Introduction To Green Roofs
<p>This article from <em> Ecogeek</em> offers an introduction to green roofs, and shares pictures of some existing green roofs and some ambitious projects in the works.</p>
City of Moorpark
City of Tustin
Tyler Technologies
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
