The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

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Abu Dhabi is updating its strategic development plan. Consultant Todd Litman reports on the city's recent urban planning charrette.

September 27 - Todd Litman

With $11.2 million in federal, state and local funds, the US DOT is launching a National Center for Sustainable Transportation. The center aims to reduce the transport sector's contribution to climate change through research, education, and outreach.

September 27 - Next City

In exchange for a promise from a country club not to oppose the planned Purple Line, the Maryland Transit Administration has agreed to move tracks, build sound walls, and attend regular meetings. Residents aren't happy about the special treatment.

September 27 - The Washington Post

The synopsis of the IPCC's fifth major climate assessment was released today in Stockholm. With near absolute certainty, the panel identified humans as the cause of the dangerously warming planet. Could the report propel languishing negotiations?

September 27 - The New York Times

China's drive to reduce urban air pollution and increase energy security will unleash massive carbon and toxic emissions, almost tripling its current emissions over 40 years. The plan is to build 40 plants to convert coal to synthetic natural gas.

September 27 - Quartz

With a goal of improving the quality of life for the city's residents, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is embarking on a titanic task: using technology, transparency, and accountability to transform the city's "lumbering" bureaucracy.

September 27 - Los Angeles Times

Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer talks about the failures with federal natural disaster relief and how the country should build its resiliency to climate change with The Planning Report.

September 27 - The Planning Report

In the Toronto area, the region's suburbs have evolved in ways that make them fundamentally different from their outdated postwar image. Yet the ways we think and talk about the suburbs haven't kept up with this new reality.

September 27 - Toronto Star

With 12,000 docking stations, Paris' expansive Velib system is the envy of cities across the world. But last year it lost 9,000 bikes to theft or vandalism. Its admirable ambition is threatening the functionality of the entire system.

September 27 - The Atlantic Cities

This year's Stirling Prize, the highest honor awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects, has gone to Witherford Watson Mann architects for their deft renovation of historic Astley Castle, which was destroyed by fire in 1978.

September 27 - The Guardian

Innovative landscape architect James van Sweden, who along with Wolfgang Oehme created the “New American Garden” style of design, died last week at his home in Washington D.C.

September 26 - ASLA The Dirt

Montreal's Bixi is one of the most replicated bike-sharing systems in the world, but the publicly backed company has struggled with financial troubles since debuting in 2008. Outstanding payments due to Bixi are the latest threat to the company.

September 26 - CBC News

Singapore has built skywards and taken back land from the sea to accommodate its booming population. But as the city-state runs out of options for future growth, it's looking underground to build infrastructure, offices, and even public spaces.

September 26 - The New York Times

LA's trendy Silver Lake neighborhood "is going through a full-blown, divisive identity crisis." Amid trendy boutiques and million dollar homes are bastions of poverty and crime. Activists are divided on how to define, let alone address, its problems.

September 26 - LA Weekly

Communities are complex. And the truth is, CDCs are in key positions to bring all the moving parts together, so they must work comprehensively. All the elements of a good neighborhood—schools, retail, housing, jobs, food—are strategic to each other.

September 26 - Shelterforce

Bill Fulton, noted Smart Growth advocate and Director of Planning for the City of San Diego, looks to rebuild a department and pass community plans in the wake of San Diego's leadership crisis. In this interview, he describes the path ahead.

September 26 - The Planning Report

Before Detroit's bankruptcy, Stockton held the ominous title of largest city in the U.S. to go bankrupt. Unlike Detroit, it was largely tied to the foreclosure crisis. Home prices have jumped 30% in the last year. What caused the turnaround?

September 26 - The Sacramento Bee

He's transformed the personal computer, health outcomes in the developing world, and education opportunities in the U.S. For Bill Gates's next act, the Microsoft founder is trying to turn atomic trash into treasure.

September 26 - The New York Times

While bike commuting is gaining nationwide, it's actually dropping in Portland which has held the enviable title of tops in bike commuting for large cities since 2005. Minneapolis and Seattle, #2 and #3 respectively, are gaining, warns BikePortland.

September 26 - BikePortland

In addition to some interesting findings regarding the relative benefits of investment in bus rapid transit, a new report from ITDP reached some fascinating conclusions concerning the factors most important to maximizing transit investment.

September 26 - The Atlantic Cities