The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The Pennsylvanian township of Upper Salford is auctioning off a 35-year-old wooden bridge to the highest bidder through an online forum, the latest creative solution for cash-strapped local governments seeking to clean up expensive local problems.

November 9 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Charles Waldheim examines the current trend's roots in design and architectural history and how it might alter city form.

November 9 - Places

James M. Russell calls a proposed office tower to be built across from the new Penn Station "2.83 million square feet of blight." What makes a skyscraper blight?

November 9 - Bloomberg News

A new $135m bridge over the Willamette River will include designated lanes for pedestrians, bikes, and public transit vehicles, but not private cars.

November 9 - Next American City

Joel Kotkin hypothesizes as to which cities will emerge from the recession stronger than ever.

November 9 - New Geography

Fort Bliss in El Paso, TX will be getting 30,000 more troops under the Base Realignment and Closure program, which means a major effort to plan for the added people.

November 9 - New Urban Network

Roberta Brandes Gratz pays a visit to Mt. Morris, New York, a town that many are looking at as a prime example of economic revitalization.

November 9 - Citiwire.net

Braddock has become the poster child for a sort of bootstrap revitalization - an attitude that Levi's wants to rub off on their jeans. In exchange for using Braddock as a brand enhancer, the company built Braddock a community center.

November 9 - Next American City

Aerial photographs by photographer Christoph Gielen turn sprawl into beautiful, abstracted images.

November 9 - CNN

Amtrak may work with NJ Transit to build a second set of tunnels (previously known as ARC that was scuttled by NJ Gov. Christie) under the Hudson River, possibly to connect with New York's Penn Station, according to an Amtrak VP and NJ Transit.

November 9 - Asbury Park Press

A new study finds that surface topography, not solely an area's underlying geology, contributes significantly to earthquake intensity. Researchers hope that the new information can be easily factored into local planning and design processes.

November 8 - The New York Times

In a recent press release, L.A. Director of Planning Michael LoGrande announced that he is reorganizing their reduced staff to "focus on and master critical functions."

November 8 - Los Angeles Department of City Planning

Getting the City of Boston to pick up the tab for maintenance and repair of certain alleyways has proved frustrating for residents of the city's South End, due to high costs and restrictions associated with transferring ownership rights to the city.

November 8 - The Boston Globe

As WalletPop notes, "some city neighborhoods are actually safer than most neighborhoods in America regardless of whether they are urban or rural." The area around Cahuenga Blvd. in L.A. comes out on top, with a crime rate of .96 per thousand.

November 8 - WalletPop

A meeting last week at the Regional Planning Commission attracted dozens of speakers angry with L.A. County's plans to change the zoning around the marina to allow new development of apartments and retail spaces.

November 8 - The Los Angeles Times

FEATURE

H.V. Savitch attempts to break down the attributes that make a city great, and concludes that a city need not score high in all the categories in order to achieve greatness.

November 8 - H.V. Savitch

Last year, the idea that diesel fuel could be created using algae was all over the news. Unfortunately, the effort can only work on a very small scale that makes no sense, says Jonathan Marshall of PG&E.

November 8 - Next100

Brad Vogel of the National Trust for Historic Preservation marvels at the number of house movings that have happened recently, and asks if it is a viable approach for preservation -- or not.

November 8 - National Trust For Historic Preservation

Peter Mithin asks if government should lead be creating and enforcing green building standards, or leading by example instead?

November 8 - GreenSpace

Singapore, Masdar, Songdo City- each of these municipalities are creating "systems of systems", integrating their data from water, electrity, waste, etc. to make smarter decisions.

November 8 - The Economist