The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Data from Washington D.C. shows how the demographics of eastern neighborhoods have shifted heavily toward childless singles over the past decade.

March 1 - District Measured

What they may lack in peace and quiet, crowded cities more than make up for by requiring residents to live smaller. Tangible environmental benefits follow.

March 1 - The Washington Post - Wonkblog

Scientists from the Santa Fe Institute have discovered basic patterns underlying the way cities have always grown. The mechanics of "urban scaling" may have something fundamental to tell us about how large settlements evolve.

March 1 - Christian Science Monitor

The Little Free Library movement is a well-intentioned overture to literate neighborliness. In spite of lacking obvious drawbacks, certain officials argue it should undergo more stringent permitting.

March 1 - CityLab

Peak VMT reportedly occurred in 2007, but that may not stand long according to updated DOT estimates of 2013 travel. According to the data, Americans drove nearly three trillion miles. Another finding is the large increase in number of vehicles.

March 1 - U.S. DOT: Office of Public Affairs

The rise of shale oil in Alberta over the past decade has made Calgary one of the most vibrant cities on the continent. But with oil slumping around $50 per barrel, the fortunes of an industry town look less rosy.

February 28 - The Wall Street Journal

A coalition of public and private interests have come together in Albuquerque to launch New Mexico's first bikeshare program.

February 28 - Albuquerque Business First

The world of Pandora, created by James Cameron for the blockbuster film Avatar, will be the next addition to Disney's Animal Kingdom park in Orlando, Florida.

February 28 - Variety

If there's a solid take-away from the California Field Poll, it is not to ask residents how they feel about raising gas taxes, or any one option for that matter. Rather, offer a menu of funding alternatives and the results become more meaningful.

February 28 - Sacramento Bee

It's unclear who exactly is behind the Philly Parking Wasteland website, but it is clear that the site exists to excoriate the mismanagement of land for the purposes of parking around the city of Philadelphia.

February 28 - Philly Parking Wasteland

Urban planners like the nightlife. They like to boogie. But one researcher argues that planners should better understand how to balance the positive and negative effects of a bustling nightlife.

February 27 - Deutsche Welle

Cities are becoming the new economic engines due to growing sectors in technology and knowledge production. Yet, cities must recognize with that transformation there comes not only opportunities but also new challenges.

February 27 - Common Place

As free-range children become an increasingly rare species, designers and psychologist are also questioning the effects of the sterile, innocuous playgrounds currently in fashion. How can play, and kids, get liberated again?

February 27 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Nashville often gets left out of the national conversation about housing affordability and displacement. The challenge, however, has led the city's planning department to launch an effort to develop an inclusionary zoning policy for the Music City.

February 27 - The Tenessean

The long shadow of 20th century urban renewal strategies color the debate over three potential redevelopment proposals for the site of the former site of the Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex on St. Louis' Near North Side.

February 27 - Next City

This has been an eventful week for gas taxes. To update two posts that appeared recently, Gov. Terry Branstad of Iowa signed legislation that increases the gas tax by 10-cents on March 1. In California, a board voted to decrease the tax by six cents.

February 27 - KCCI Des Moines

Surprising insights on messaging from the front lines of NIMBY.

February 27 - Shelterforce

A newly released report shows the demographic transformation of American cities spatially from 1990 to 2012 by charting their neighborhoods based on distance to the center of the city.

February 27 - University of Virginia Center for Public Service

The cities that visitors see will always be different than the city that locals see. A new mapping project reveals the distinctions between the local perspective and the tourist perspective for 136 cities around the globe.

February 27 - Huffington Post

A community user of Buzzfeed has clearly had it up to here with the daily frustrations of using transit on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

February 27 - BuzzFeed