The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Is a Subsidized Soccer Stadium a Smart Investment for D.C.?

Recently it was announced that D.C. had reached a tentative agreement to help fund a new soccer stadium to be built in an area of the city that has long resisted redevelopment. Stadiums are generally a bad deal for cities, but is this an exception?

August 3 - Washington City Paper

Friday Funny: The Most Epic City Council in North America

Community Cable 9 has outdone themselves with this trailer for the weekly broadcast of Whitehorse, Canada's City Council meetings. Don't you wish your council meetings were this epic?

August 2 - The Washington Post

The History of Modern Architecture Told Through Hollywood's Lens

Does an inordinate amount of your knowledge come from films? Then you might take pleasure in Zachary Edelson's romp through the past hundred and twenty years of architectural history as told through motion pictures.

August 2 - Architizer

Republicans Back Urgent Climate Action

Four former EPA heads in Republican administrations, from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush, have penned an op-ed in The Times calling on members of all parties to support President Obama's recent climate initiatives and do more to curtail warming.

August 2 - The New York Times

How Can Northeast Ohio Grow Smarter?

The 'biggest regional planning effort in a generation' is providing residents of twelve Northeast Ohio counties with an opportunity to discuss how the area can leverage its existing infrastructure rather than continuing to sprawl.

August 2 - The Plain Dealer


BART Unions Give Notice: Strike on Monday

Same drill, round two. After almost a month of apparently fruitless negotiations, the unions gave a 72-hour notice of going on strike. Unless an agreement is reached, 200,000 Bay Area rail riders will need to find alternatives for the Monday commute

August 2 - San Jose Mercury News

CU Boulder

Ranking America's Top College Towns

For its fourth annual list of the best college towns in America, Livability looked beyond the experiences of students to the relationship between colleges and the surrounding community, and to opportunities for the former to transition to the latter.

August 2 - Livability


New Bay Area K-12 Redefines Relationship Between a School and its Community

This summer, a new school will begin rising in the Bay Area city of Emeryville that redefines the relationship between a K-12 school and its surrounding community.

August 2 - Fast Company Co.Exist

Interstate Tolling, the Third Rail of Transportation User Fees, Finds Fans

Discussion on increasing user fee revenue has centered on increasing and/or indexing the gas tax and applying VMT fees. Now some are pushing a return of the original user fee - road tolls applied by states or regions on interstate highways.

August 2 - Governing

The Great Lakes' Great Disappearing Act

Over the past 14 years, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron have experienced an unprecedented drop in water levels, and many fear they won't be coming back. In a multi-part series the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel explores the causes and implications.

August 2 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Regulators Push New Tools for Preventing Massive Blackouts

A decade ago, a power failure in northern Ohio caused a cascading series of outages that knocked out power to 50 million people in the United States and Canada. New tools aim to reduce the chances that such events could happen in the future.

August 2 - The New York Times

When Debating a Controversial Plan, Does 30 Percent Equal a Majority?

In the face of vocal opposition, Vancouver's city council approved a proposed bike route and greenway. For one former councillor, if a third of the speakers in hostile public meetings support a project, that's enough to indicate a silent majority.

August 1 - The Globe and Mail

MoMA Architecture Head Goes Back to School

Barry Bergdoll, the Museum of Modern Art's Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, has announced he is leaving the museum to take up a post at Columbia University. Over six years he curated a number of popular, and critically praised, exhibitions.

August 1 - Architectural Record

Planning a People-Centered Renaissance for La Defense

Since it was begun in the late 1950's, Paris's La Defense business district 'has always worked better in architectural theory than in anthropological practice,' says Georgi Kantchev. A new plan seeks to humanize the spaces between its tall towers.

August 1 - The New York Times

What Happens When a City Turns Out the Lights?

Strapped for cash, cities across the US have decided to save money by turning off street lights. An investigative series documents the effect of all those darkened lights on crime and economic development in San Diego - home to a $30 million backlog.

August 1 - Fast Company Co.Exist

Cities Lead a New Push to Reduce Urban Poverty

Recent reports have documented an alarming rise in poverty levels across America. With the federal government cutting funding for social programs serving the poor, cities are stepping into the void by creating anti-poverty centers.

August 1 - Governing

Portland Streetcar Bike

7 Ways Portland Is Better Than Your City

On a recent trip to Portland, land use attorney Bill Adams couldn't help but make comparisons to redevelopment efforts elsewhere. He found 7 tangible areas in which Portland shines through its copious clouds.

August 1 - UrbDeZine.com

Natalie de Blois, Influential but Excluded Modernist Architect, Dies

While working for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, de Blois helped design some of the most influential office towers of the 20th century. But, when it came time to open one of her signature buildings, she was told not to attend if she was still pregnant.

August 1 - The New York Times

Redesigning American Cities for Less Driving

This 16-minute radio interview of Forbes writer Micheline Maynard and Cornell urban planning professor Michael Manville explores how and why to redesign cities to make them less auto-dependent to match reduced driving.

August 1 - Here & Now

NYC Pushes Ahead With Plans for New Neighborhood Built on Landfill

A far-fetched proposal for Seaport City - a new landfill neighborhood on the East Side of lower Manhattan - is one step closer to reality with New York City's release of a request for proposals to study the idea.

August 1 - Crain's New York Business

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