The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

If Republican Governor Terry Branstad signs the bi-partisan bill as signs indicate, the increase will be the most significant state transportation funding legislation since Republican Gov. Matt Mead of Wyoming signed a 10-cent increase two years ago.

February 25 - KCCI Des Moines

Housing supply is offering up something that looks very different than what today's households want to buy.

February 25 - PlaceShakers

All four cars* of a Metrolink train derailed sending 28 people to the hospital, four with critical injuries. The southbound Ventura line train was headed to Union Station Los Angeles when it hit the produce truck at 5:45 AM.

February 25 - NBC Los Angeles

Two major rail lines provide crude oil shipments to refineries and terminals in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. A surprising number of residents would face evacuation in the event of a fire on the route.

February 25 - Philadelphia Inquirer

For half a century, suburbs surpassed city centers in population and job growth. These economic and demographic trends appear to be reversing. America's cities have grown faster than outlying areas and new research that jobs are coming with them.

February 24 - Surging City Center Job Growth

A three-year pilot program of market-pricing for parking in the university town of Berkeley, California is already revealing surprising realities about parking demand in the city.

February 24 - Systematic Failure

A report called "The Other 9-to-5," released this week by the San Francisco Late Night Transportation Working Group, maps out late night transportation options around the Bay Area and provides recommendations for permanently expanding service.

February 24 - KQED News Fix

Most of the suburbs of the 20th century weren't designed to last more than a generation or two. As many suburbs decay, or get replaced by farther-flung rings of new bedroom communities, Carmel, Indiana is trying something different.

February 24 - New Geography

Since the July 2013 derailment and explosion of an oil train in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec* killed 47, Canada has contributed C$155 million toward the rebuilding effort because the railroad's insurance was insufficient.

February 24 - The Wall Street Journal - Business

An op-ed column for The Buffalo News explains the thinking behind Buffalo's new Green Code—especially its benefits for walking, bicycling, and public transit.

February 24 - The Buffalo News

Rapid urbanization and climate change will make it harder for cities to provide crucial resources for their citizens. In this article, Arup consultants Amy Leitch and Laura Frost examine how the built environment can fill this emerging need.

February 24 - Arup Connect

Despite its economic dynamism, Mumbai is known for a lack of adequate housing. Citywide increases to maximum Floor Space Indices (i.e., Floor Area Ratios) will increase living space per resident, provided the right redevelopment takes place.

February 24 - Vox

With SUV sales up, car sales down, and mileage driven up, the effects of lower gas prices could soon extend to land use, making suburban and exurban commuting more affordable. Economists have a term for these effects: demand response.

February 24 - The Wall Street Journal - The Outlook

In some places in the United States, mostly in Florida, some suburban cities have become the big kids on the block.

February 24 - Panethos

The explosive growth of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area in recent years has mostly gone toward rental housing, and now the area has one of the lowest homeownership rates in the country.

February 23 - The Dallas Morning News

Development connected to a proposed light rail line through Mercer Island—connecting Seattle to the West and Bellevue to the East—has met staunch local opposition.

February 23 - The Seattle Times

The District Department of Transportation's plans for 2015 include closing critical gaps in the District's bike infrastructure network.

February 23 - Greater Greater Washington

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's recently announced an ambitious proposal to expand and extend ferry service around the five boroughs. Although the proposal has inspired support, one blogger offers a strongly dissenting stake.

February 23 - Second Ave. Sagas

Research uncovers more evidence for possibly decades-long droughts. Climate change is the likely culprit in effects that may challenge infrastructure and agricultural output throughout the century.

February 23 - Slate

Alastair Gordon lambasts Miami's high-end architectural extremes. A horizontal, nature-inspired urbanism might better address contradictions between breezy luxury and inland poverty.

February 23 - Miami Herald