The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Can the nation's largest state department of transportation, long oriented to building highways and fighting congestion, be brought into the modern, multi-modal era? The State Smart Transportation Initiative's report for Caltrans may do just that.

February 1 - The Sacramento Bee

Nomenclature changes, especially for cities with chronologies spanning centuries and even millennia. Test your knowledge of historic, even ancient, place names.

February 1 - Guardian Cities

In the eighth installment of the Urban Juxtapositions series profiled in Planetizen on January 16, Chuck Wolfe asks if we are using the right language when it comes to densifying urban spaces.

February 1 - myurbanist

David Wildstein, the former Port Authority official who resigned over the George Washington Bridge-Gate lane closures and has refused to answer investigators' questions, indicated in his lawyer's letter that N.J. Gov. Christie knew of the closures.

February 1 - The New York Times

The environmental impact statement on the Keystone XL oil pipeline released Friday by the U.S. State Department delivered news that environmentalists will not be happy to hear. The study finds that the project will not exacerbate oil extraction.

February 1 - The New York Times

It's hard to keep up with the endless quest to present the world's knowledge in map form, but luckily we've got Max Fisher as a guide. He's collected 40 more fascinating maps that explain world history, present conditions and future scenarios.

January 31 - The Washington Post

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is considering switching its single-trip transfer system to a more flexible time-based system allowing short return trips to be made without paying twice. Low-income and marginalized riders stand to benefit most.

January 31 - Now Magazine

The United State Conference of Mayors recently released a report projecting moderate growth for almost all of the country’s metropolitan areas. A survey of coverage on the report reveals multiple readings of the state of the economy.

January 31 - New Geography

With the energy generating business in upheaval, utility-scale solar energy projects have done well since 2009, culminating in a record year for installation in 2013.

January 31 - Denver Post

Two years after Governor Andrew Cuomo outlined an ambitious 10-year, $1 billion effort to revive the Buffalo Niagara economy, the areas targeted for investment are beginning to become clear, reports David Robinson.

January 31 - The Buffalo News

In this European country, the Nissan Leaf is the third best seller and Tesla's Model S luxury car is number one. The major reason is not its environmental ethos, which is strong, but because of the perks that EVs receive. What county is it?

January 31 - The Guardian

The Pennsylvania P3 Act was approved in 2012 to help fund the cost of repairing and maintaining the state’s structurally deficient bridges. PennDOT has recently expanded its goals for the program—to 500 bridge repair projects.

January 31 - Governing

Walk Score has published its analysis of the quality of public transit in 50 of the biggest cities in the United States. The rankings may surprise you.

January 31 - Fast Company Co.Exist

The work of Professor Arthur C. Nelson from the University of Utah in projecting demographic and real estate trends contains some critical insight for planners looking to prepare the way for the cities and towns of the future.

January 31 - NRDC Switchboard Blog

The transformation in the way New York's streets are designed, used and conceived is one of the most visible legacies of the Bloomberg administration. Branden Klayko assembles before and after images of 25 of the city's transformative road diets.

January 31 - The Architect's Newspaper Blog

The U.S. Secretary of Commerce has declared the Fraser River sockeye salmon run a “fishery disaster.” The declaration will produce funding to offset the impacts for nine tribes and non-tribal fishers in Washington state.

January 30 - KUOW

You can point the finger at unprepared politicians or mistaken meteorologists for paralyzing Atlanta this week. But to find the real culprits, you'll have to look at the region's history of land use and transportation decisions, argues Rebecca Burns.

January 30 - Politico Magazine

The Charlotte City Council approved $12 million in engineering work for a proposed 2.5-mile streetcar extension. The city hopes the investment will help it win federal funds for the $126 million project.

January 30 - Charlotte Observer

These 15 ancient cities can help modern urbanites plan more efficient and sustainable municipalities.

January 30 - Future Cities

The hit or miss efforts of cities to deliver citywide wireless networks has its latest case study: the city of Riverside in the Inland Empire of California is considering an effort to shut down or downsize its 2007 network.

January 30 - The Press Enterprise