The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

BART Announcement

BART secures $760 Million for 10-mile Extension to San Jose, California

On Wednesday, officials celebrated the final fiscal installment of the $2.3 billion 10-mile BART extension planned to open in 2018.

August 22 - San Jose Mercury

Los Angeles is the Least Affordable Rental Market in the Country

A new study confirmed that the average Los Angeles renter allocates 47 percent of their paycheck towards rent.

August 22 - KPCC

Voters in Cleveland to Decide Fate of Automatic Traffic Cameras

In November, voters in Cleveland can decide whether or not to ban the use of automatic traffic cameras to catch red-light violators.

August 22 - ideastream

The Simpsons

Friday Funny: The 10 Best Simpsons Commuting Jokes

The FXX cable network is amidst a massive marathon of all 552 episodes of the Simpsons. Joseph Rose, took a break from cartoon bliss to produce ten of his favorite scenes building jokes out of transportation experiences.

August 22 - The Oregonian

A bus next to the re-located light rail station at Denver's Union Station

Denver Opts for BRT over 'Modern Streetcar'

The 10-mile Colfax Ave corridor has the city's highest bus ridership but plagued by traffic congestion. After a 2-year study, bus rapid transit with dedicated lanes was selected by city and county staff as part of a $115 million investment strategy.

August 22 - The Denver Post


Divvy Expands Bike-Sharing Stations

Adding 175 new stations by Spring 2015, the Divvy expansion would add 1,750 bicycles to the system in wards further away from the downtown core.

August 22 - Chicago Tribune

Hacking Traffic Lights with a Laptop

A study by computer scientists from the University of Michigan shows how easy it is to hack and control traffic lights.

August 22 - Vox


New York City Does In Fact Sleep

Brian Wilt, a data scientist at Jawbone, the company behind many fitness trackers, aggregated sleeping patterns of people across the world to see how people's sleeping cycles compare.

August 22 - Vox

Two Brothers Walk to School

Indexing Affordability and Walkability in the United States

Dave Munson discovered the neighborhoods throughout the United States that are both affordable by his salary and walkable.

August 22 - Munson's City

Cracked Sidewalk

The Solution to Los Angeles' Crumbling Sidewalks

Parking guru Donald Shoup discusses how the city of Los Angeles can fix its roughly 4,300 miles of sidewalk that require some degree of repair, for free.

August 21 - Los Angeles Times

Closing Gaps in the Florida Greenways and Trails System

The recent purchase of land to close gaps in the Florida Greenways and Trails System resulted from partnerships between state, regional and county governments to protect land for recreation and conservation in the Sunshine State.

August 21 - The Palm Beach Post

Interpreting the 'Timeless and Time-Bound' in Cities

In his latest essay on interpretation of the urban environment, Chuck Wolfe suggests that if we take away context clues cities become matrices -- with blank cells to complete -- where each of us personalizes how space meets time.

August 21 - The Huffington Post

The Paradox of Reduced Oil Reserve Estimates

Until recently, California's Monterey Shale was estimated to have the nation's highest amount of recoverable oil. Then the Energy Department revised their estimates, lowering it 96%, which turned out to be bad news for fracking moratorium advocates.

August 21 - Governing

Social Mobility in America: Reality or Dream?

Richard Reeves explains the factors that limit or assist social mobility for people born into the lowest economic quintile in American society.

August 21 - Brookings Institution

Why the Federal Government Should Require Minimum Service Standards for Rail

According to Yonah Freemark, there's folly in the way the federal government has been funding rail transit projects but failing to set standards for minimum service—a key indicator of transit ridership success.

August 21 - the transport politic

Home For Sale Signs

White Flight Patterns Continue Within the Suburbs

According to a recent study, white flight proliferates even in the suburbs, as suburbs attract large numbers of middle-class minority residents and white residents flee so-called 'ethnoburbs'.

August 21 - Science Daily

Bloomberg Offers $1 Million Annually for 'Innovation Delivery Teams'

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg began a new program via Bloomberg Philanthropies to invest $45 million for shaking up city halls.

August 21 - Next City

Nine Women Leading the Public Interest Design Field

Rennie Jones of Architizer highlights nine women pioneering a variety of successful and poignant public interest design projects around the world.

August 21 - Architizer

Us High Speed Rail System

How Can Rail Complete its Comeback in the United States?

Deepa Sanyal writes the second installment of a series devoted to the idea of "Rail Redux"—this time examining the question of what components are necessary to drive a "true rail resurgence."

August 21 - PlannersWeb

Small Lot Townhouses

How Small Lots Yield Urban Density

A recent article explains how, and why, small lot subdivisions get built in Los Angeles. Also, the city has recently updated a procedural glitch to make permitting easier for small lot projects.

August 20 - Urban Land Magazine

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