The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Barcelona wants to be the world’s best city for people. To reclaim the public space and community living that residents lost to cars over the last century, the city is transforming mobility and access to public space by introducing the superblock.

July 21 - Cities of the Future

The Grand Old Party platform calls for an end to using gas taxes for public transit as well as other non-road purposes like "bike-sharing," opposes increases to the 23-year-old gas tax, and would eliminate the U.S. DOT Livability Initiative.

July 21 - Progressive Railroading

Concepts like erasure, greenfield development, and easements figure into this story about a rural community on the fringes of suburban development in Maryland's Montgomery County.

July 21 - National Council on Public History

The new board chair of Houston's Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County recently shared her ideas for the future of the transit agency.

July 21 - The Urban Edge

When the state allowed the 421-a tax abatement program to expire in January, the city of New York lost a key tool for development in the city. Now scuttled developments are blaming their demise on the lack of 421-a.

July 21 - DNAInfo

Arriving just in time in the District of Columbia, as Safe Track disrupts Metro service, General Motors launched 'Maven' to compete with ZipCar, Car2Go, and Enterprise car sharing services.

July 21 - The Washington Post

Tesla's 7kWh lithium-ion Powerwall batteries come standard in every house in the planned community of YarraBend. The community is billed as the "suburb of the future."

July 20 - RenewEconomy

A new report from Public Agenda tracks the spread of participatory budgeting, and provides guidance for implementing such processes for maximum benefit to public engagement.

July 20 - Governing

Three proposed legislative measures would undo one of the more obvious signs of the recession, and return the responsibility for street trees to the city.

July 20 - San Francisco Chronicle

What would Richard Neutra do with a third arm? UC Berkeley researchers once asked him that and more, for science.

July 20 - 99% Invisible

Downtown San Diego’s waterfront is undergoing major changes. Regarding the latest proposal, the San Diego Environment + Design Council has some words of advice in this open letter to the Port District.

July 20 - UrbDeZine

The transportation planning app moovel (formerly known as Ridescout) has created a YouTube series called Transit Trends that brings "explainer posts" to a new format.

July 20 - moovel

Forty so-called Tier 4 locomotives, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designation requiring a dramatic reduction in particulate and nitrogen oxide emissions, will be joining Metrolink's fleet covering 512 track miles in six counties.

July 20 - Los Angeles Times

BLOG POST

The most dense neighborhood in Manhattan is surprisingly low-key.

July 20 - Michael Lewyn

Some of the New York Subway's stations and cars could be getting a drastically updated look—as soon as 2020.

July 20 - CityLab

It's been 20 years since the city of Atlanta hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics. The city's National Public Radio station is exploring the legacy of the games.

July 20 - WABE

File under "build it and they will come."

July 19 - Fast Co.Exist

A recent spate of reports has examined the up-and-down U.S. economy and predicted the need for more office space to fuel the growing workforce.

July 19 - National Real Estate Investor

A writer for the Tampa Bay Times critiques the city of St. Petersburg's response to repeat storm events that have sent millions of gallons of untreated wastewater into its public waters.

July 19 - Tampa Bay Times

Next year, trains traveling at up to 110 mph will speed through grade crossings faster than the current trains traveling at up to 79 m.p.h, and motorists need to prepare for crossing gates that will stay down up to three times longer.

July 19 - The State Journal-Register