The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

BLOG POST
Urban Containment: Sometimes Bad, Sometimes Not So Much
Some commentators on urban containment treat the issue as all-or-nothing: either strict limits on suburban development are good public policy everywhere, or they are good public policy nowhere. Perhaps a more nuanced view is appropriate.

Egypt's New Capital City Development Gets Chinese Backing
Plans for the development of a new, unnamed capital city just east of Cairo has received the financial backing of Chinese investors.

Vancouver Area Shoppers Stuck in Four Hour Parking Lot Traffic Jam
Shoppers at the newly opened Tsawwassen Mills shopping mall found themselves in an hours long traffic nightmare as they tried to leave the mall's parking lot.

Starchitects Leaving Their Mark on the Vancouver Skyline
It hasn't always been like this, but in recent years, Vancouver has attracted international talent to design some of its splashiest new projects.

The End of a Urban Freeway—and an Era of Planning—in Rochester, New York
A project to fill-in the Inner Loop in Rochester, New York is underway. It took a lot of contemporary planning to undo this mistake of mid-century planning.
Montreal Gets Creative to Mitigate Construction Impacts
Concerned about the economic impacts of a four-year construction projects on the streets of Montreal, the city has solicited ideas for ways to keep people shopping.

Where Have D.C.'s Metro Riders Gone?
Following an 11 percent drop in ridership in the last quarter, transportations experts are left scratching their heads as to where D.C.'s Metrorail riders have gone.

Job Growth Accelerates in Urban Centers, Slows on the Periphery
City centers have caught up to suburbs in terms of economic performance, according to new analysis.

Study: Forest Fires Have Doubled in the Western United States
Wildfires ravaged the western United States again this year, reflecting the new normal of climate change.

Affordable Housing Hits the Water...In Shipping Containers
Facing a shortage of space to build new housing, Copenhagen is looking to reclaim some unused space on the water to provide floating affordable student housing in shipping containers.

Feds Propose New Lending Standards for Condo Developments
The Federal Housing Administration has proposed a rule that could remove one of the barriers to mixed-use developments. Questions still remain about whether the new rule goes far enough.

Five Canadian Cities Already Facing Climate Change
The CBC produced an interactive feature about the dangers of climate change in Canada, focusing on five cities threatened by environmental factors like sea-level rise, flooding, and wildfires.

Germany Pushing Europe to Ban the Internal Combustion Engine by 2030
Germany has approved legislation calling for the end of the end of internal combustion engine by 2030. Whether the rest of Europe follows Germany's lead is to be determined.

Op-Ed: Programming the First Priority for Keeping Public Spaces Safe
Providence, Rhode Island is looking ways to make Kennedy Plaza, located in the city's downtown, safe for all users. Increased law enforcement in only one way to achieve that goal, according to an op-ed in the Providence Journal.
Black Box Showed What, but Not Why, for the New Jersey Transit Crash
The National Transportation Safety Board has determined that the minute before the Sept. 29 crash, the engineer suddenly accelerated, hurling the train into the wall of Hoboken Terminal, killing one person. They will work to find out why.

Ryan Gravel Speaks Out After Resigning from the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership
Streetsblog USA shares an interview with the visionary behind the Atlanta BeltLine, who discusses how the city's booming economy has conflicted with the mission of the project.
Tour the Never Built Projects of New York
The most fantastic and fanciful projects ever proposed for New York City are collected and celebrated in a new book.

Solar Power Passes Coal-Fired Electricity in U.K.
In a first for renewable energy in the United Kingdom, Solar Power accounted for more electricity than what was produced in Coal plants

The Iconic Transamerica Pyramid: Now the Second Tallest Building in San Francisco
San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid, designed by architect William Pereira, is no longer the tallest building in the city. The city's architecture critic expects it will still be the most iconic building in the city.

Visualizing Bus Transit (Warts and All)
A new interactive website by a bus advocacy group in New York City clarifies the ways MTA bus service needs improvement.
Pagination
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.