The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

It often seems that streetscapes' appearances and forms are immutable, but Los Angeles is trying something new. Through a herculean effort called Recode: LA, Los Angeles is rewriting its codes and, consequently, may change how its streets look.

February 23 - Public CEO

The 200-acre operational rail yard is the largest of six affordable housing sites that Mayor Bill de Blasio targeted for development. He hopes to build more than 11,000 units of affordable housing there, but Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is not on board.

February 23 - The New York Times - N.Y. / Region

Minneapolis combines prosperity with plentiful affordable housing, an increasing rarity. Geographical factors play a role, but longstanding "fiscal equalization" policies may make the difference.

February 23 - The Atlantic

Douglas Hausladen, New Haven’s transportation director, envisions building complete streets quickly through a fail-fast approach.

February 23 - CityLab

Night School, planning to use school bus fleets to supplement late-night Bay Area transit, lost the regulatory fights Uber and Lyft handily won.

February 22 - Pacific Standard

Although it hosts some of the nation’s first and most successful auto suburbs, Long Island has experienced a downturn. This infographic-focused piece delves into the reasons why.

February 22 - CityLab

Cities from India to Syria to Hungary can claim to be the world's oldest continually inhabited city, with permanent habitation going back more than 4,000 years. But when the evidence is thousands of years old, the title becomes elusive.

February 22 - The Guardian

A new study aims to broaden the understanding of an increasing number of human-caused earthquakes. Fracking might not be entirely to blame.

February 22 - Pacific Standard

A recent article in Washington City Paper pushes back on the notion that the ill effects of gentrification are overblown. Resurgent cities must, according to the article, find ways to achieve the benefits of gentrification—without the displacement.

February 22 - Washington City Paper

Dave Taft pens an ode to the merits of the red cedar—a common tree in New York City and dry, empty lots all over the East.

February 21 - New York Times

The most recent Census Bureau Housing Vacancy Survey showed a long-awaited boom in household growth—to the tune of 1.6 million households in year-over-year growth.

February 21 - Harvard Center for Joint Housing Studies

Florida's private inter-city rail project is getting a taste of California-style rail opposition from two counties that responded to citizens' complaints by voting to allot $4.1 million for potential legal action against rail line.

February 21 - The Palm Beach Post

Responding to the New York train crash that killed six this month, Sam Tanenhaus reflects on how commuting got so dangerous and why we don't demand better.

February 21 - The New Yorker

A navigation app that aggregates transportation modes and works offline? Do tell.

February 21 - Engadget

Finally, a breakthrough we've all been waiting for: Bertha is on the move again in Seattle and will soon be ready for repairs. The tunnel Bertha was built to drill will have to wait, however.

February 20 - The Seattle Times

A housing report by analyzing Philadelphia's Center City enunciates an obstacle facing many cities in the throes of downtown revitalization: What happens when Millennials don't come home to roost?

February 20 - Philadelphia

A judge's ruling in New York has evicted a rent-stabilized tenant in Hell's Kitchen. Renters might want to reconsider the terms of their lease before listing their apartments for rent—especially if they live in a rent stabilized apartment.

February 20 - New York Post

"Depending on where you live in Melbourne, it could take longer to get into the city than it did in the 1920s," according to an article The Age. But really not much has changed.

February 20 - The Age (Australia)

Ecologists and planners have been warning that water may be the oil of the 21st century. With oil prices plunging, water is getting more dear in some places. Sao Paulo, Brazil's great megacity and economic heart, is already facing a dire shortage.

February 20 - New York Times

Under the transportation funding plan proposed by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, motorists would pay an annual road user charge of about $50 to help pay for the $59 billion in deferred highway and bridge maintenance that Gov. Brown noted recently.

February 20 - U-T San Diego