The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley broke a tie vote in the state Senate on July 1 to pass a 15-cent gas tax increase over three years to raise $1.5 billion. In May, voters rejected a sales tax increase that would have triggered a gas tax increase.

July 5 - Detroit Free Press

As the effects of humans accelerate the changes occurring on the planet, landscape architects and planners alike will need to take into account ways that civilization can adapt to a lack of stability.

July 4 - Places Journal

The 'South Mountain Freeway' would build a 22-mile freeway extension between Laveen and Chandler. The route's proximity to sacred tribal land has prompted a lawsuit, even after years of planning.

July 4 - The Arizona Republic

It makes economic sense: increase supply in desirable areas to match demand. These articles look at some of the factors complicating that story in on the west coast.

July 4 - City Observatory City Commentary

The focal point of California's vast Inland Empire, the suburban city of San Bernardino was brought to its knees by the Great Recession. Its civic bankruptcy and its emergence as a suburban slum is perhaps America's most tragic story of urban sprawl.

July 4 - Los Angeles Times

The Swansea Tidal Lagoon, planned for the Bristol Channel on the southern coast of Wales, spares no expense in delivering first-of-its-kind renewable energy.

July 4 - The Architect's Newspaper

Millennials are loving their center cities these days, with their lofts and bars and yoga studios. But what happens when Millennials start to have families and don't quite fit, physically or culturally, into city life anymore?

July 3 - Next City

2014-15 was a banner fiscal year for development in the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee.

July 3 - Nashville Business Journal

Act 178, approved by Vermont in 2006, required that all ancient roads be catalogued by July 1, 2015 to be included in the state map. The exploration of old roads leading up to that deadline makes a compelling story.

July 3 - The New Yorker

Though it's as picturesque as a place can be, the central Sicilian town of Gangi is a shell of its former self. To attract new residents, the town is offering homes for free on the condition that they be restored to their former glory.

July 3 - New York Times

For the first time, full-color videos of the earth's surface will be made available to the public, with added options for paying customers. The imagery comes from two cameras on the International Space Station.

July 3 - Quartz

Aspiring-to-be-hip cities across the county tout themselves as the "next Brooklyn." Ben Adler argues not only the Brooklyn is a lousy model for revitalization but also that hipster-led gentrification does not lead to overall prosperity.

July 2 - Grist

Memphis' Beale Street is famous as a home of the blues and one of the city's biggest tourist attractions. Even so, been it's mismanaged and is often empty. With some conflicts settled, the city hopes to realize the street's value as a civic asset.

July 2 - New York Times

Capturing the complexities and competing forces at play in major metro areas stumps many writers who face the challenge.

July 2 - The Planning Report

One of the nation's busiest commute corridors will get a lot busier in coming decades with no large infrastructure investment in sight. SPUR has some ideas about how the East Bay to San Francisco corridor can be improved right now.

July 2 - Medium

The Phoenix region, as a relatively young metropolitan area, has sprawled as it's grown and for much of its expansion has overlooked placemaking considerations. A recent feature in The Arizona Republic highlights the places that standout.

July 2 - The Arizona Republic

Passive house construction has gained traction in Europe, but has only recently started to get noticed in the United States. Writer Alex Ulam discusses the emergence of this design approach as well as its implications for use in the coming years.

July 2 - Doggerel

EfficientGov recently delved into one of the age-old questions of planning.

July 2 - EfficientGov

Consumers aren't happy with airlines these days, but airlines are making more money than ever. A Department of Justice investigation into possible collusion by major airlines isn't likely to change any of that.

July 2 - Chicago Tribune

Carl Davis, Research Director of the Institute on Tax and Economic Policy (ITEP) writes where gas taxes used to fund transportation infrastructure increased, if only by decimal points, and about the aberration—the six-cent plunge in California.

July 2 - Tax Justice Blog