The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

As federal law shifts to address resilience in post-Hurricane Sandy New York, the Department of City Planning has released a new manual to help residents and landowners understand options for retrofitting their buildings to prepare for floods.

October 13 - New York Department of City Planning

FEATURE

With advancements in the infrastructure and design of websites comes new ways to engage the public. In this article, Karin Brandt, CEO and co-founder of coUrbanize, details what to consider when launching a civic engagement platform.

October 13 - Karin Brandt

Expect to see 500 new green-and-blue shared bikes on Seattle streets or docked at 50 stations on October 13. A press conference at Pioneer Square's Occidental Park will launch Pronto Cycle Share, largely sponsored by Alaska Airlines.

October 13 - Puget Sound Business Journal

Rep. Bill Shuster, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is the second powerful congressman to state that a fully funded, five to six year reauthorization bill can be done, acknowledging that funding challenges lie ahead.

October 13 - AASHTO Journal

"Metrics" has become a buzzword in local government, but how do municipalities actually harness data to improve city services, operations, and accountability?

October 13 - The Planning Report

The October issue of Land Lines reveals the remarkable story of how an estimated one million people came to live in subterranean apartments in Beijing.

October 13 - Land Lines

Transit agencies are increasingly turning to branding and advertising to improve their images. But can conservative bureaucracies embrace what it means to be "cool"? More importantly, can they attract riders?

October 12 - InTransition Magazine

David Sedlak, author of "Water 4.0: The Past, Present, and Future of the World's Most Vital Resource," explains how the deepening obsolescence of our water infrastructure is reaching crisis status.

October 12 - Vox

Trees are a vital element of urban design, one that must considered at every stage of planning, design and development.

October 12 - Congress for the New Urbanism

Tired of coming home and seeing the "We Missed You" slip hanging from the door of your apartment building rather than receiving the package you had ordered online? UPS has an app for that.

October 12 - The Wall Street Journal

Many cities have long been investing in art and culture, marrying it to placemaking, and generating extraordinary local transformations. Hazel Borys offers up a little inspiration from an art opening this week, and a few pointers for urbanists.

October 12 - PlaceShakers

A new report by Bruce Katz of Brookings Institute discusses the federal government’s role in spurring and aiding the innovation districts found in many cities across the country today.

October 11 - Brookings Institution

A study conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety assessed the mental demands required of six hands-free, in-vehicle systems dialing phones and changing radio stations.

October 11 - Chicago Tribune

The new 100-unit, $40-million Star Apartments opened in Skid Row earlier this week is part of Los Angeles County’s Housing for Health initiative to house 10,000 of the most vulnerable homeless people.

October 11 - Los Angeles Times

Although more women are studying architecture, equal footing is quickly lost as they progress through their careers according to a new study by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.

October 11 - Architizer

In response to criticisms of the large investments in "big ticket" parks in wealthy neighborhoods during the Bloomberg Administration, New York City announced a park equity plan this week.

October 11 - New York Times

By no means authoritative or comprehensive, here's a collection of noteworthy phrases, paragraphs, commentaries, observations, and more from the recent week in the planning and urbanism discussion.

October 10 - Planetizen

Esri offers a new product called Tapestry Segmentation, which overlays geography with U.S. Census and marketing data.

October 10 - The Wall Street Journal

The surge in oil production has not benefited California, but that's about to change. Shale oil from North Dakota and other states costs $15 less than imported oil. After transportation costs, California refineries would save $3 per barrel.

October 10 - The Wall Street Journal

Early reviews and returns on Tucson's Modern Streetcar appear positive, according to an article for Arizona Public Media.

October 10 - Arizona Public Radio