The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

A new report from PolicyLink presents strategies for keeping out bad land investment, such as when buyers "mothball" the property -- holding on to it without improving it -- bringing down the quality of the community.

June 4 - Next American City

A new report about how New York City should react and adapt to climate change raises ideas and questions about what other large cities should do to prepare themselves for a changing climate.

June 4 - Fast Company

Search giant Google has mapped the location of every WiFi network in Britain. Some say the collection of this information is a violation of privacy.

June 4 - Telegraph

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri">One of the most widely cited numbers in contemporary transportation media coverage and policy discussions is the cost of congestion estimates that Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) annually produces as part of the Urban Mobility Report series. <span> </span><span> </span>The 2009 version of that report (</span><a href="http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/)"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri">http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/)</span></a><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Calibri"> <span> </span>shows an estimate of the cost of congestion of $87.4 Billion for the top 439 U.S.

June 4 - Steven Polzin

This post from <em>The City Fix</em> looks at some of the new public transit systems that have been built in South Africa ahead of this year's World Cup.

June 4 - The City Fix

To help change the pattern of development in Russian cities, free courses are being offered to local architects about solving the problems facing the countries growing urban areas.

June 4 - The Moscow Times

Boyce Thompson of Builder Magazine says that the newer floor models from homebuilders purposely understate their amenities to create the perception of value.

June 4 - Builder Magazine

BLOG POST

<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal">I have to admit, listening to Peter Lovenheim talk about his book “In the Neighborhood, The Search for Community on an American Street, One Sleepover at a Time”, spiked my planner’s radar. In his novel, the journalist, quite intentionally, well, the title is self-explanatory isn’t it? It sounded a bit hokey and contrived at first, as did the interview. Lovenheim explained that the only way to truly get to know someone and develop a real sense of intimacy and bond was to sleep in their home and shadow them for the day. But the real story is about the loss of intimacy and comfort among neighbors.

June 3 - Melissa Hege

Cities around the world are trying to undo decades of car-oriented planning. Lester Brown takes a look at the trend and finds some models for other global cities to follow.

June 3 - Grist

A new video from <em>Urban Omnibus</em> explores life in five New York neighborhoods, delving into the daily interactions between people and the built environment.

June 3 - Urban Omnibus

Haitians displaced from their home by the devastating earthquake in January have set up camp along a highway median.

June 3 - NPR

Although overall household driving is down, the number of miles families log for shopping continues to climb, according to new federal data.

June 3 - New Rules Project

Cisco is contributing technology to Songdo City in South Korea, a brand new and complete city for a million people. China plans to build hundreds of these "cities-in-a-box" as a massive rural-to-urban migration occurs there.

June 3 - San Jose Mercury News

After backing down on a campaign promise to remove a U.S. military installation from the prefecture of Okinawa, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has been forced to resign.

June 3 - The New York Times

<em>National Journal</em> asks its panel of transportation experts whether mass transit agencies really deserve $2 billion in emergency operating aid.

June 3 - National Journal

San Francisco's transportation agency has proposed the installation of parking meters in a handful of neighborhoods that dynamically change their prices according to the time of day and the related demand.

June 3 - San Francisco Examiner

<em>Greater Greater Washington</em>'s Daniel Nairn wanted a planning-related poster for his wall. So he created one (admittedly nerdy) poster comparing the various grids of American cities.

June 3 - Greater Greater Washington

FEATURE

Maureen McAvey, Executive Vice President with the Urban Land Institute, spoke recently to a congressional committee on the growing problem of federal buildings that are designed with myopic attention to security and ignore urban growth strategies.

June 3 - Maureen McAvey

A pedestrian in Park City, UT followed her downloaded Google map onto a four-lane road sans sidewalks. She was hit by a motorist before reaching the median. Lauren Rosenberg is seeking $100,000 in a federal lawsuit.

June 2 - The Guardian

At the Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control center (ATSAC) near City Hall in Los Angeles, a team of engineers watches traffic flow all over the city, sucking in tons of data to improve transit and automotive circulation.

June 2 - GOOD Magazine