The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Good news for all cyclists riding on Calif. roadways came from Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday when he attached his signature to a bill making it law that drivers give bicyclists at least 3 feet of space when passing from behind - only took him 5 years!

September 25 - Los Angeles Times - Opinion

Many factors have contributed to America's obesity crisis, but the design of the built environment has had an undeniable role. A new study shows that living in a smart growth community can increase physical activity among children.

September 25 - Fast Company Co.Exist

Natural disasters affect millions of people each year, and cost between $60 billion and $100 billion worldwide. Here are the 10 global cities most at risk.

September 25 - Future Cities

The millions of smart meters and grid sensors in operation across North America are providing a flood of information that utilities are still struggling to process. But changes in operations are already emerging, and potential uses grow by the day.

September 25 - The Wall Street Journal

Even if our warming planet wasn't threatened with environmental catastrophe, the case for reducing fossil-fuel use is an easy one to make. A new study shows that reduced air pollution from cutting emissions would save millions of lives by 2100.

September 24 - The Atlantic Cities

As of 2010, the U.S. had a shortfall of 5.1 million housing units affordable to low-income renters. As the demand for such housing increases, preserving affordable units that exist is a much more cost effective solution than constructing new ones.

September 24 - HUD: Evidence Matters

New York's lengthy waterfront was once dotted with an extensive array of piers, reaching like tentacles from the city's shores into the surrounding harbor and rivers. As the city again embraces its waterfront, those that remain are getting new life.

September 24 - Urban Omnibus

Competing ballot measures in San Francisco's upcoming election will help decide whether a developer will be allowed to build a mid-rise luxury condo project along the city's waterfront. The Board of Supervisors approved the project last year.

September 24 - San Francisco Chronicle

An unprecedented study is tracking the behavior of drivers in the U.S. using cameras and sensors to observe how they interact with their vehicle and the road. Researchers hope to better understand the causes for collisions, and how to prevent them.

September 24 - Governing

Many planners might dream of how they'd change their communities if they were able to run things. In Compton, just south of Los Angeles, new mayor Aja Brown is hoping utilize her planning experience to help turn around the struggling city.

September 24 - Next City

Gabrielle Esperdy explores the development of an online encyclopedia of American architecture — and argues that metadata is a crucial tool for future historians.

September 24 - Places Journal

What does the "Happiest Place on Earth" have to teach the "Capital of the World"? How to better manage the flow of people, for one.

September 24 - The New York Times

In order for new coal power plants to meet the EPA's new rules for reduced emissions, they will have to rely on unproven carbon capture and storage (or sequester) technologies, putting the legality of the rule in doubt.

September 24 - The New York Times - Energy & Environment

While the successes, and travails, of bike share systems in cities like New York, Washington D.C., and Chicago get most of the attention, several smaller cities across the U.S. have managed to establish such systems without much fanfare.

September 24 - Momentum Magazine

Seeking to stabilize healthy neighborhoods and revitalize others, Philadelphia is planning to establish a land bank to "consolidate its inventory of distressed real estate," reports Jon Hurdle. The plan could become a national model.

September 23 - The New York Times

The Ovarian Psyco Cycles Brigade is making inroads in changing Los Angeles's male-dominated cycling culture and altering traditional concepts of Latino women.

September 23 - Los Angeles Times

If an upscale mall in Shanghai is any indication, Prada and Gucci may have a new competitor to contend with: a storefront farm, complete with seasonal produce and a pig pen.

September 23 - Inhabitat

In this era of federal government disfunction, cities have been able to innovate, cooperate, and tackle our biggest challenges. It behooves nation-states to see investment in cities as nation-building, and adjust their policies accordingly.

September 23 - Meeting of the Minds

Utah's San Rafael Swell is the scene of an energy showdown between conservationists who want to preserve this unique landscape (potentially a national monument), private oil and gas companies that want to drill there, and the BLM that has to decide.

September 23 - The New York Times - U.S.

In another sign that efforts to reduce childhood obesity may be having an impact, a new study published in the journal Pediatrics has found increases in physical activity and the consumption of healthy foods among 11 to 16-year-old Americans.

September 23 - USA Today