The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

A controversial House bill that proposed drastic spending cuts to Transportation and Housing programs was pulled from the floor yesterday after Republicans balked at supporting the cuts outlined in Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget.

August 1 - The Hill

After a long confirmation delay, Gina McCarthy, the new head of the U.S. Environmental Protections Agency, has wasted little time wading into the controversy over the agency's (and administration's) role in addressing climate change.

July 31 - The Washington Post

A new study has quantified how Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann's plans changed the form and function of Paris - a topic that had previously been open to the subjective analysis of urban theorists. The results might surprise you.

July 31 - BBC

Utilizing an online tool that compares images from Google Street View, researchers have built a better understanding of the 'small, often imperceptible reasons' that make some streets and places feel safer than others.

July 31 - The Atlantic Cities

Two years after Councilman (now Council President) Herb Wesson vowed to allow vegetable gardens to be planted in public parkways to help improve access to fresh food, an 'edible landscape' motion languishes while the city cracks down on homeowners.

July 31 - Los Angeles Times

Ryan Holeywell writes a follow-up to the meeting of a House Transportation subcommittee on the impending insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund - looking at it from the states' perspective rather than from Capitol Hill's. They have a lot at stake.

July 31 - Governing

For years, Beijing's historic homes have been threatened by redevelopment pressures. Now, the building of illegal additions by homeowners looking for affordable ways to expand are causing alarm. For the local government, the solution is demolition.

July 31 - The New York Times

Nancy Levinson, editor of Places Journal, argues that it's time for feminist architects to engage the larger sphere of political activism with concrete objectives.

July 31 - Places Journal

Stuck with millions of square feet of superfluous parking like the Cascadian communities we examined yesterday? Joyce Law offers seven examples of creative repurposing of parking lots and garages for active uses in New York City.

July 31 - Untapped Cities

An expose has uncovered the 'cloak-and-dagger tactics' being utilized in a $1 million campaign to defend Dallas's Museum Tower luxury condo building from claims that glare from its glass skin is a nuisance to the Nasher Sculpture Center.

July 31 - The Dallas Morning News

Monorails, reinstating the 'commuter tax,' and a city takeover of the MTA are among the proposals being bandied about by the candidates vying to become New York City's next mayor. Just one problem: they're all pie in the sky, say observers.

July 31 - The Wall Street Journal

Rising property tax revenues, tax hikes, and the broader economic recovery are driving the longest municipal government hiring streak in the United States since 2008. However, many jobs eliminated during the recession won't be returning.

July 30 - The Wall Street Journal

San Francisco's Transbay Transit Center is just the latest example of an urban mega-project experiencing an enormous cost overrun. Eric Jaffe examines what the causes of this all too common phenomenon might be.

July 30 - The Atlantic Cities

A multi-decade vision will transform the auto-oriented DC suburb of Tysons Corner into a vibrant, walkable place. While the subway extension at the heart of the plan will open this year, development will take time. Pop-ups will help bridge the gap.

July 30 - The Washington Post

Surveys of parking use in multifamily buildings across Cascadia have quantified the extent to which parking requirements have 'force fed' more spaces into projects than developers would provide based on demand. Alan Durning examines the implications.

July 30 - Sightline Daily

In a world of seemingly infinite variety and excess, simplicity engenders great affection. Hazel Borys offers this query on the subject of cottage living: How is it that less adds up to so much more?

July 30 - PlaceShakers

A new governance structure will integrate central Paris with its suburbs in order to facilitate regional planning for 6.5 million inhabitants across 124 municipalities.

July 30 - The Atlantic Cities

Richmond, California is prepared to become the first city in the U.S. to use eminent domain, a power traditionally utilized to force owners to vacate their land in the name of the public good, for the purposes of stopping foreclosures.

July 30 - The New York Times

Police in the New Jersey town of Woodbury are going to extraordinary lengths to bust drivers for failing to yield to pedestrians.

July 30 - NJ.com

When the Bank of America Tower opened in 2010 it was praised as the world's first LEED Platinum skyscraper. But data on the building's performance, post-occupation, show that it's actually an energy hog and massive greenhouse gas polluter.

July 30 - The New Republic