The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Rowan Moore profiles Zaha Hadid, the polarizing architect who's benefited exceedingly from the global appeal of "iconic" architecture. Has the thrust of her pioneering early work been lost amid the astonishing growth of her practice?

September 9 - The Guardian

New York and Los Angeles lead the U.S. with the most job openings in fields that require a college education. But these cities also have the largest pool of competitors. By applying a "location quotient", a different picture of opportunity emerges.

September 9 - The Atlantic Cities

Speeding is paying-off in the amount of $15 million for Seattle area schools thanks to speed-enforced cameras, a proven but nonetheless controversial traffic safety tool. Revenue will be used to make walking safer under a proposal by Mayor McGinn.

September 9 - The Seattle Times

A high-rise residential building boom has transformed the skylines of Vancouver and Toronto over the past two decades. But despite the evident rise in the popularity of urban living, Canada's suburbs and exurbs continue to dominate growth trends.

September 9 - The Vancouver Sun

With increasing fares, delays and an "awful" service on Sundays, the British Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin isn't the only commuter unhappy with the service and admits that the expediency of HS2 was exaggerated.

September 9 - The Telegraph

Apparently the construction boom that's taken place over the last 12 years in New York hasn't quenched developers' appetites to build. Many are pushing to get their projects approved before the development-friendly administration leaves office.

September 9 - Crain's New York Business

The constant criticism of America's freeways makes it difficult to appreciate this infrastructure as important economic and cultural artifacts and a wonderful way to see the country.

September 9 - New Geography

With the selection of Tokyo over Istanbul and Madrid as the host of the 2020 Summer Olympics, continuing concerns over radioactivity trumped social instability and a deep economic recession as the least dangerous alternative.

September 9 - The New York Times

As New Yorkers prepare to vote in tomorrow's mayoral primaries, Democrat Bill de Blasio's "tale of two cities" critique of the Bloomberg years has resonated with voters. But when it comes to land use, do his policies promise more of the same?

September 9 - The Wall Street Journal

The wastewater well from the process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, triggered 167 earthquakes in and around Youngstown, Ohio, during a single year of operation, according to research in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

September 8 - NBC News

The death of 24-year-old cyclist Amelie Le Moullac on August 14 marks the third this year by a truck, and the second by one turning right (known as a right hook) into the bike lane. Her death has set off a movement for safer streets in SoMa, S.F.

September 8 - Streetsblog SF

Paul Craig Cobb was welcomed to a small town in North Dakota when he arrived last year and bought 12 plots of land. Now, his neighbors are distressed since learning of his plans to turn Leith, ND into a white supremacist stronghold.

September 8 - The New York Times

Some of the world's iconic landmarks -- like the Eiffel Tower and Montreal's Biosphere -- have been borne from world's expositions. Expos can highlight cities' progress and offer an economic boost, but accompanying costs can overshadow the benefits.

September 8 - The New York Times

No sooner had the $6.4 billion eastern span of the Bay Bridge opened to traffic than the next huge transportation undertaking begun -- concrete began pouring for the new $4.5 billion Transbay Terminal. The bridge and terminal are related by history.

September 8 - San Francisco Business Times

BLOG POST

If American politicans and bureaucrats had favored public transit or pedestrians as aggressively as they favored cars in the 20th century, public policy would be very different indeed.

September 8 - Michael Lewyn

Project to map corporate shuttle routes of Silicon Valley giants such as Apple, Google, & Facebook, outlines the forces behind gentrification in San Francisco and reveals a startling pattern of reverse sprawl.

September 7 - Wired

A report by NOAA & UK's Met Office says climate change may have contributed some of the extreme weather events in 2012.

September 7 - The Guardian

John Upton notes some startling changes among Gulf oil refineries - the ones that had been clamoring for the Keystone XL pipeline to be built in order to access Canada's oil sands. It's been two years - and the oil is flowing - with or without it.

September 7 - Grist

Siemens and C40 have announced the winners of the inaugural City Climate Leadership Awards, recognizing the global cities demonstrating leadership and innovation in fighting climate change across ten separate categories.

September 7 - Fast Company Co.Exist

New data from New York's Transportation Department shows that although miles of Manhattan street space have been turned over to bikes and pedestrians since 2008, average traffic speeds have actually increased, despite a consistent volume of vehicles.

September 7 - The New York Times