The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

After a year of closed-door negotiations, the Twins and Hennepin County have reached agreement on a plan to transform the rail hub being built adjacent to the team's new ballpark into an engine for revitalizing the surrounding neighborhood.

September 13 - Star Tribune

Want to encourage city leaders to hop on the biking bandwagon and expand cycling infrastructure where you live, but don't know where to start? Kristin Smith lays out four key steps for joining the "pedal-powered, green lane movement".

September 13 - Good

Though 78 percent of Mexico’s population is urban, for the past three decades it's been importing a disastrous development pattern from its northern neighbor - urban sprawl. A new set of institutions and policies are aimed at reversing the trend.

September 13 - The City Fix

From solar panels to waste-to-energy to geothermal systems, small cities across Minnesota are exploring ways to take advantage of the latest in distributed energy generation technologies to reduce costs and improve local economies.

September 12 - Minnesota Public Radio

After siting vacant for more than 5 years, AT&T's famous Bell Labs campus designed by architect Eero Saarinen will undergo a $100 million renovation aimed at creating a mixed-use center for Holmdel, New Jersey.

September 12 - The New York Times

A congressionally mandated study into potentially altering D.C.'s Height of Buildings Act of 1910, which has kept the city's skyline uniquely low, will recommend small tweaks to the rules and further study of relaxing limits outside downtown.

September 12 - Greater Greater Washington

As long-debated reforms meant to streamline California's landmark Environmental Quality Act near passage, interest groups from the right and left have found plenty to quibble with. But in two key areas, observers are cheering new amendments.

September 12 - California Planning & Development Report

Call it the law of unintended consequences. Alerts of "bad air days" that ask motorists in the Wasatch Front to reduce driving had the opposite effect, prompting some residents to drive away from lowlands to the mountains where air may be healthier.

September 12 - The Salt Lake Tribune

A pilot program operated by New York's DOT will gather data from 500 city motorists' vehicles in order to find problematic city streets and help drivers reduce their gas use and increase their safety.

September 12 - The Wall Street Journal

New South Wales Government have published the "City Centre Access Strategy", their vision for transport planning in Sydney for the next two decades. Jacob Saulwick reviews the mixed responses to the long awaited plan.

September 12 - Sydney Morning Herald

A new study from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization found that the 1.3 billion tons of food wasted every year make it one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

September 12 - Los Angeles Times

Joel Kotkin's muddle-headed theory on babies and urban living is aimed at blocking housing choice for young families, argues Robert Steuteville.

September 12 - Better! Cities & Towns

Bill de Blasio wasn't the only candidate backed by the newly-formed livable streets political action committee StreetsPAC to emerge victorious from Tuesday's primary elections in NYC. 13 of 18 council candidates supported by StreetsPAC won.

September 12 - Streetsblog

New Orleans is planning a novel approach to managing the city's perpetual threat of floods. Instead of trying to prevent and pump out every last drop, the city will slow and store stormwater under a 50-year, $6.2 billion program of retrofits.

September 11 - Grist

Carrying 2.3 billion passengers a year, London's buses are the most popular they've been in more than fifty years and 60 percent more utilized than in 2000. Is the city doing enough to plan for future demand and threats to service?

September 11 - The Guardian

PlanIT Valley, Masdar City, Songdo - the names of these bold visions elicit past promises of a smart and sustainable future. Eric Jaffe rounds up the latest news on the progress of the world's new urban utopias.

September 11 - The Atlantic Cities

The second United Nations' World Happiness Report shows that the world is becoming a happier place with 60 of the 130 countries analyzed improving. What is going on in the 30% of countries, including the United States, where happiness is declining?

September 11 - Fast Company Co.Exist

David W. Dunlap recounts how the slurry wall built around the World Trade Center's foundations prevented the devastation to Lower Manhattan from becoming much worse, and "became a symbol of resilience in the months and years after the attack."

September 11 - The New York Times

When voters in downtown L.A. approved a special taxing district to help fund a new $125 million streetcar line, one small detail was left out of project cost estimates - $166 million in potential utility work. Might this gap kill the project?

September 11 - Los Angeles Times

A transportation study group is rolling out a proposal to place a .7%, 10-year general sales tax on the 2014 ballot with two-thirds of the revenue going for roads and one-third for transit. The state's 22-cent gas tax hasn't been raised since 1991.

September 11 - The Denver Post