The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Nancy Scola responds to a recent Wall Street Journal article detailing the ongoing financial troubles of Citi Bike—New York City’s bikeshare program, which is reportedly scrambling for money and operating deeply in the red.

March 26 - Next City

The death toll in this rural area 55 miles north of Seattle in Snohomish County is expected to rise. Rain had saturated the ground and led to the collapse of a hillside about 600 feet high and 1,500 feet long. But was the slide foreseeable?

March 26 - USA Today

Seth Kadish says he was born with an innate sense of direction. As such, he appreciates street grids oriented to cardinal directions. The phenomena interested him enough to create a graphic that visualizes the orientation of 12 urban areas.

March 26 - Visual Statistix

A recent article calls it likes it sees it: most would consider a three-mile bike and pedestrian path over the Hudson River a gift. Not so in South Nyack, at the western end of a new Tappan Zee Bridge, where such a plan sparked vehement opposition.

March 26 - New York Times

For all those cities that double population during the work day, here's a revenue thought to consider. But why restrict it to in-bound commuters? What about residents who commute-out of the city? Is the commuter tax a legitimate revenue source?

March 26 - Governing

A recent article describes the context of urbanization around the country before examining the implications of the trend for the decisions made by bankers—i.e., where and how to invest—especially given the realities of the post-recession economy.

March 25 - American Banker

A recent article explores the promise—and potential pitfalls—of new technology to support the growing popularity of urban pedestrianism.

March 25 - FutureStructure

Historically, central markets served as grand social and commercial hubs for U.S. cities. A period of 20th century decline interrupted the evolution of markets, but creative and diverse examples have precipitated a recovery around the country.

March 25 - The Street Plans Collaborative

A barge spilled 168,000 gallons of heavy oil after colliding with a ship in Galveston Bay outside of Texas City on March 22, just two days shy of the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez, 11 million gallon oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska.

March 25 - Galveston County Daily News

BLOG POST

In response to the news that transit ridership reached an all-time high in 2013, commentators of all stripes sought to deny or minimize the news. But such arguments are themselves flawed.

March 25 - Michael Lewyn

A familiar refrain: the EPA proposes new regulation of energy production, and the utility industry responds that new requirements will increase costs. The Center for American Progress recently looked back at how clairvoyant those claims proved to be.

March 25 - Triple Pundit

The 2014 Pritzker Architecture Prize had been awarded to Shigeru Ban. Ban is best known for his innovative use of paper as a construction material and for relief work in disaster areas.

March 25 - The Architect's Newspaper

China recently announced ambitious plans to move 100 million former farmers to urban environments—enough to bring the country's urban population to 60 percent of its total.

March 25 - New York Times

The growing popularity of active transportation requires planners and advocates to better survey how, where, and when people are biking and walking. A new study by the Transportation Research Board shares the cutting edge of survey techniques.

March 25 - Transportation Research Board

A pair of articles pushes back on a recent study that claims public transit use in the United States is reaching record levels.

March 25 - The Washington Post

In 2013, the city of Columbus left $8.3 million in property taxes on the table as part of a tax break intended to increase the number of people living downtown. How did it respond? By extending the tax break.

March 24 - The Columbus Dispatch

Despite its mostly sprawling conditions, San Jose has recently prioritized walkable, dense urban environments. But should the city focus its development downtown or build a connected network of urban neighborhoods?

March 24 - Silicon Valley Business Journal

In a pair of articles, The Hill's energy and environment blogger Timothy Cara looks at political efforts to increase natural gas exports to Europe on account of Russia's annexation of Crimea, part of Ukraine, and environmental groups opposed to it.

March 24 - The Hill

Chicago recently began construction on the $60 million Navy Pier Flyover—an elevated bike and pedestrian path built along Lake Michigan near the Navy Pier.

March 24 - Chicago Tribune

Despite installing many innovative traffic management schemes over the years, the 41 miles of highway between Fredericksburg, Virginia and Washington D.C. are snarled by some of the worst traffic in the country. Can HOT lanes change that?

March 24 - Atlantic Cities