The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Stepping away from campaign rhetoric, what must the next mayor focus on to ensure a healthy and sustainable future for the largest city on the West Coast? Civic, business, labor, and intellectual readers offer advice to the next Mayor of Los Angeles.

May 15 - The Planning Report

A Victorian house in the Western Addition neighborhood of San Francisco may be the Zelig of the city's social history. From middle class professionals, to working class earthquake refugees, to Japanese entrepreneurs, to jazz mecca; it's seen it all.

May 15 - The San Francisco Chronicle

A new Census Bureau report finds population density going down everywhere in the country -- except California, where it's going up in most metropolitan areas, especially smaller ones.

May 15 - California Planning & Development Report

Vancouver's efforts to facilitate accessory dwellings has proven to be popular - perhaps too popular for some residents. As officials prepare to expand the program citywide, they're tweaking it to address concerns with privacy and parking.

May 15 - The Vancouver Sun

After years of neglect, periodic riots, and unfulfilled promises from the state, Paris's low-income suburbs are finally doing for themselves what had long been promised to them - creating opportunities for economic development and social integration.

May 15 - The New York Times

The Republican party has long obstructed efforts to pass climate change legislation in the United States. But the party may soon be forced to reckon with its "willful denial of science and facts," reports Coral Davenport.

May 15 - National Journal

FEATURE

Crowdsourcing is a great tool for locating potholes and taking surveys – but can it inspire an underdeveloped neighborhood to come together as a community? A developer in Salt Lake City is motivating residents to use DIY techniques in placemaking.

May 14 - Tim Halbur

To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the Rockefeller Foundation is kicking off a three-year worldwide competition to select 100 cities to receive training and support to boost their resilience.

May 14 - The Atlantic Cities

A 2,300-year-old Mayan pyramid at the Noh Mul site in northern Belize was recently bulldozed "to make fill for roads," reports Brad Lendon.

May 14 - CNN

A new study from U.S. PIRG and the Frontier Group projects three scenarios for Americans' future driving patterns that all fall short of current government projections. Transportation planning priorities should be reconsidered, the study contends.

May 14 - DC.Streetsblog

Government contracting requirements that encourage the growth of minority-owned businesses are laudable, says Patrick Kerkstra, but such programs are rife with abuse. What makes them so susceptible to fraud and what can be done?

May 14 - Next City

The Big Parade, an annual event organized by writer Dan Koeppel, utilizes Los Angeles's historic public staircases as the setting to educate and entertain Angelenos, while building a sense of community.

May 14 - The Atlantic Cities

Detroit is moving away from its focus of investing solely in automobile infrastructure. The city is now turning towards bicycle infrastructure as a means of appealing to a different demographic, one that seeks alternatives to the car.

May 14 - Global Site Plans - The Grid

For Americans under 34, the amount of money spent dining out has increased by more than 20% over the last decade; as the recording industry has been in a tailspin. In the battle to earn urbanites' dollars, food purveyors are the new rock stars.

May 14 - The Washington Post

Just two months ago, Tulsa was given the ignominious title of having the country's most parking-scarred downtown by Streetsblog readers. Apparently the recognition has jolted the city into action, as a ban on new surface lots was recently extended.

May 14 - DC.Streetsblog

What's the deal with the Belvedere "brand" of similar looking condominium buildings that have sprouted over the last decade in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn? Elizabeth A. Harris investigates.

May 14 - The New York Times

In cities across America, cycling is fast becoming "just another way to get around," causing friction with its outsider reputation. Sarah Goodyear argues that for cycling to become safer for everyone, riders need to renounce their special status.

May 14 - The Atlantic Cities

BLOG POST

David Foster Wallace's commencement speech, now a viral video, misses an essential truth.

May 13 - Tim Halbur

The recent kerfuffle over Denise Scott Brown’s non-receipt of the Pritzker Prize is just a symptom of a larger problem within the field of architecture, says Sam Lubell. The poor rate of diversity among practitioners reduces its relevance.

May 13 - The Architect's Newspaper

Giant construction cranes once again dot London's skyline, signs of the British capital's "spring recovery". But with more cranes in the capital than the rest of the country combined, the unbalanced recovery is further diving "two-speed Britain".

May 13 - The Guardian