The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Construction has begun on the world’s first residential high-rise to meet Passive House standards: a dorm tower on Cornell Tech’s much-anticipated Roosevelt Island campus in New York City.

July 16 - The Planning Report

CityLab presents a feature extravaganza about the nation's 21,000-mile-long network of trails converted from former rail lines.

July 15 - CityLab

President Barack Obama once again called upon the Antiquities Act to further his legacy as a champion of public lands. A famous example of land art will gain protection under the action.

July 15 - The Washington Post

A zoning code makeover is awaiting City Council approval in Baltimore. The proposed changes would help the city evolve from its industrial legacy.

July 15 - Greater Greater Washington

New York City and San Jose have expanded or added rules that temporarily close some of their streets to automobile traffic. This continues a string of successes for the open streets movement.

July 15 - Next City

In theory, sprawl can be limited by good planning. In practice, sprawl is an exceedingly challenging phenomenon to stop. This post looks at the systemic challenges of stopping sprawl in mainland China.

July 15 - China Urban Development Blog

Alana Semuels describes the structural forces that had led Cincinnati's Lincoln Heights neighborhood to the brink of extinction.

July 15 - The Atlantic

The Urban Accessibility Explorer is an easy-to-use mapping system that measures the number of activities that can be reached by residents of specified neighborhoods within a given amount of travel time, by a particular mode and time of day.

July 15 - Metropolitan Chicago Accessibility Explorer

A Denver Post op-ed critiques the arguments employed to make the case for density in Denver.

July 15 - The Denver Post

BLOG POST

A retrospective of a billboard art exhibition at the 2013 Biennial of the Americas on the occasion of the 2015 Biennial's kick-off implicates an excellent model of citizen engagement and possibly some lessons for civic leaders and urban planners.

July 15 - Dean Saitta

Communities in West Virginia are organizing and working to fill their needs for healthy, fresh food as grocery stores in the region close.

July 15 - WV Public Broadcasting

FEATURE

An op-ed describing the public health benefits of CEQA reform and urging California's leaders to finalize the end of "Level of Service" as a measure of project impacts.

July 14 - Benjamin D. Winig

Recent controversies have inspired county and city officials in Miami-Dade County looking to overhaul the process by which transportation projects are planned, approved, and funded.

July 14 - Miami Herald

BLOG POST

One common argument against allowing new housing in popular cities is that as long as rich foreigners use up the housing supply prices will never go down.

July 14 - Michael Lewyn

Seattle returns to zoning as a tool to promote the construction of affordable housing.

July 14 - CityLab

A new report puts natural gas ahead of coal in the U.S. energy production portfolio.

July 14 - Associated Press via Chicago Tribune

The San Francisco Chronicle published a large, magazine-style feature detailing the impacts of Airbnb on the city's housing market.

July 14 - San Francisco Chronicle

As parking reform takes to multi-family housing, the detached single family home has largely escaped discussion. Should it? Seattle (of course) is taking the lead. Also, is all of Minneapolis ready to eliminate parking minimums along transit lines?

July 14 - Streetsblog Network

BLOG POST

Imagine on your phone being able to wake up and with a simple click be able to arrange all of your transportation needs for the day. Soon your bus pass, carsharing pass, bikesharing pass, and your personal vehicle will go away—replaced by an app.

July 14 - Jennifer Evans-Cowley

The 1.5-mile, $37 million segment of Charlotte's controversial new LYNX Gold streetcar line is set to open July 14. A former mayor, Anthony Foxx, is now the U.S. Transportation Secretary. A federal grant is paying 68 percent of construction costs.

July 14 - The Charlotte Observer