The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

New studies are proving that replacing already built buildings with new, energy-efficient ones is not good environmental sense.

June 7 - Miller-McCune

Toronto's new Presto smartcard for transit riders may soon allow you to pay for your parking and a coffee as well, according to Gary McNeil, president of GO Transit.

June 7 - The Toronto Star

The project converted a nine-acre parking lot into an ambitious urbanist community, which revitalized a nearby natural water channel, added high density housing, retail, and integrated a walkable design.

June 7 - Grist

On top of all of the planning factors that make a place great, David Roberts adds the element of delight.

June 7 - Grist

Alexandra Lange highlights a crowd-sourced urban design that actually worked.

June 7 - Design Observer

Developer John Kane of Raleigh, North Carolina rode the personal rapid transit (PRT) system at Heathrow, and decided it would be a perfect fit for Raleigh's North Hills area.

June 7 - TV News Channel 14 Carolina

Eric Jaffe at The Infrastructurist explains the non-intuitive reason why often removing freeways means less traffic.

June 7 - The Infrastructurist

Area Development Online looks for the most desirable locations to locate a business, and finds that smaller cities are outperforming larger ones. Austin, Texas was the indisputable winner.

June 7 - Area Development Online

Rural Africa is learning to embrace bicycles as a means of transportation.

June 7 - TheCityFix.com

New York's High Line park isn't just a nice place for a stroll. Mayor Bloomberg credits the line with creating over 12,000 new jobs and $2 billion in private development.

June 6 - The New York Times

Architect Michael Liu asks, "Is it appropriate for a private fee-generating nongovernmental organization to assume what amounts to a regulatory role in the building industry?"

June 6 - ArchitectureBoston

The National Recreation and Parks Association is on a mission to fix up neglected parks around the country. Atlanta and D.C. are the first to benefit from their new program, "Parks Build Community."

June 6 - USA Today

FEATURE

At the 19th Congress for the New Urbanism, Planetizen's Tim Halbur finds a vibrant, active community of urban thinkers more interested in improving livability than in architectural principles.

June 6 - Tim Halbur

Detroit has become our most notorious story of urban collapse. But reporter Matthew Power suggests that we consider the city's official motto: "It shall rise from the ashes."

June 6 - OnEarth Magazine

U.S. News and World Report recently evaluated the cities where real income (what your paycheck can buy, considering the cost of living) is the highest. Des Moines, Iowa takes the top slot.

June 6 - Creative Class

Panasonic and a group of companies are planning on building a new demonstration "smart town" in Kanagawa Prefecture on a site the tsunami destroyed.

June 6 - Popular Science

Fast Company lines up the greenest skyscrapers in the world, from the Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou, China to London's famous Gherkin.

June 6 - Fast Company

The L.A. County Department of Public Works was in a constant battle with its contractors, until they moved from the standard "design, bid, construct" to a "design-build" model.

June 6 - The Planning Report

Filmmaker Aaron Garcia uses narration from William H. Whyte's classic <em>The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces</em> to highlight the failings of the I.M. Pei-designed Dallas City Hall Plaza.

June 6 - The Better Block: A living Charette

"The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways" by journalist Earl Swift examines the movement to build interstate highways well before Pres. Eisenhower's landmark legislation.

June 6 - The Wall Street Journal - BOOKSHELF