The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Houston Micro-Condo Development Now to Include Hotel

A New York City micro-unit developer had hoped to sell 550 micro-condos to millennials and empty nesters. The project is being redesigned to reduce the number of micro-condos and add a hotel.

July 29 - Houston Business Journal

Bike and Ped Safety Signs

Safe Streets for Whom?

An equity strategist offers advice on creating safe streets programs that address systemic racism.

July 29 - Streetsblog

Portland Bike Safety Signage

Study: Interaction between Bicyclists and Streetcars Find Deadly Results

A new study looks at the interaction between bicyclists and streetcars (trams) or train tracks and does not find a good outcome.

July 29 - Treehugger

Coal Railroad

Why the Sierra Club Owns a $2.2 Billion Coal Reserve

Through a series of legal maneuvers associated with a coal giant's bankruptcy, the Sierra Club made good on a conservation opportunity worth $2.2 billion and weighing 53 million tons.

July 29 - Slate

British Rowhouses

Report: Britain's Suburbs on the Decline

London's central core never experienced the deterioration many American downtowns lived through, but the inner city/suburb dynamic was still at play. Now poverty is moving outward.

July 29 - The Telegraph


Friday Fun: Portland Bike Lanes Pay Tribute to David Bowie and Prince

Biking is very rock and roll. Portland just turned up the volume.

July 29 - Bike Portland

Soccer

Atlanta Piloting a 'Transit Oriented Soccer' Idea

MARTA's Five Points station will be the first to test an idea of building small soccer fields at multiple transit stations in the system.

July 28 - Creative Loafing


Glenwood Green Acres, Philadelphia

An Urban Lesson From the DNC's Host City

While Democrats consider the future of the country, the host city of the DNC offers a great urban lesson from the past: the elegant efficiency of rowhouses.

July 28 - California Planning & Development Report

San Francisco Approves Accessory Dwelling Units

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has approved legislation that will allow the construction of accessory dwelling units, potentially adding thousands of units to the city's housing supply.

July 28 - San Francisco Examiner

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit Employees Get a Raise—Months Before Operations Begin

The North San Francisco Bay Area has lacked passenger rail for decades—but the process of hiring the staff necessary to operate the line on a daily basis has been complicated by the cost of housing in the area.

July 28 - Marin Independent Journal

Senior Pedestrians

A Case for Integrating Housing and Healthcare Services

Connecting affordable housing and healthcare programs can improve both—especially for seniors and disabled people.

July 28 - CityLab

New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina

Unexpected Good News for Children Arises from an Environmental Devastation

Hurricane Katrina may have devastated much of New Orleans, but in its wake, literally, unexpected good work was done. Clean sediment was deposited over lead-contaminated soil, one reason why lead levels in children decreased.

July 28 - The Times Picayune

A Side-by-Side Comparison of Infrastructure Policy Platforms

The Republican and Democratic parties both claim to understand the importance of infrastructure, but they show support in vastly different ways.

July 28 - the transport politic

Polk Street Bikes

On Bike Infrastructure, Cities Can Do Better

Urban bike infrastructure is plagued by three related problems: design, politics, and security.

July 28 - Slate

Palm Tree

Phoenix Planning for a New Approach to its Urban Forest

A city famous for tall palm trees wants to find some shade.

July 28 - Los Angeles Times

Jefferson Park Chicago

South Side Location Selected for the Obama Library

The eagerly anticipated selection of the future site of the Obama Presidential Library has leaked to the press. A formal announcement is expected soon.

July 28 - Chicago Tribune

Airbnb

FEATURE

Airbnb's Listings Expanded in 2015, but Many Don't Last Long

A new statistical analysis of Airbnb listings shows the short-term-rental service is growing worldwide, but suggests that many hosts don't stick with it. Intermittent commercial uses of residences could be seen in the planning context of "mixed use."

July 27 - Martin John Brown

Brazil Olympics

Less Than the Olympic Ideal

A long-read in The Nation pokes large holes in the narrative of the Olympics as a beacon of equality and unity. The effect in Brazil, according to the article, has been quite the opposite.

July 27 - The Nation

Construction

A 'Housing New York' Report Card

The de Blasio Administration set lofty goals for the creation and preservation of housing in New York. So how's that going?

July 27 - Politico

Car Share

Good News on Car Sharing

Car sharing networks that allow the vehicle to be returned to any location were found to have the impact of removing seven cars for each rented car in San Diego in a three-year study released July 19.

July 27 - The San Diego Union-Tribune

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