The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Do you treasure the good old days of $6 drafts, fancy drinks in Mason Jars, and less-snazzy Starbucks? Than you'll sympathize with Dan Hopper, who laments the changes to his neighborhood as 'slightly richer people' move in.

May 24 - College Humor

With Los Angeles, Charlotte, Washington D.C. and many more cities hoping on board, seats are filling up quickly on America's streetcar bandwagon. However, experts caution gung ho cities about unreal expectations for improving mobility.

May 24 - The Atlantic Cities

Two cars plunged off the I-5 truss bridge, 60 miles north of Seattle, into the frigid Skagit River at the end of Thursday's commute, but no deaths nor serious injuries occurred. The likely cause appears to be a big-rig hitting the 58-year-old bridge.

May 24 - Washington State Bridge Collapse - No Fatalities

After years of discussions, arguments, and pleas, residents of the Leimert Park neighborhood in South Los Angeles won their battle for the creation of a local stop along a new light rail line soon to start construction.

May 24 - Los Angeles Times

Paris, London, Copenhagen: all over the world, opponents have tried to put the brakes on bike-share programs. Then they fall in love. Is New York City next? The author of "Traffic" thinks so.

May 24 - OnEarth

According to the CBO, President Obama's transportation budget keeps the Highway Trust Fund, currently expected to run out of funds in 2015, solvent until 2021. The additional funds come from 'intergovernmental transfers' - but are they real?

May 24 - Streetsblog Capitol Hill

State departments of transportation aren't known for being the most progressive public agencies. But, in response to economic and demographic changes, Oregon's DOT (ODOT) is breaking the mold by embracing a multimodal transformation.

May 24 - Bike Portland

The $176 million Phase I design concept for Navy Pier unveiled last week promises a "parklike" feel along the banks of Lake Michigan.

May 24 - Chicago Tribune

Utilizing a series of compelling before and after renderings, Amanda Gruen walks through Union Studio Architects' plan to improve the pedestrian and transit experience in downtown Providence's Kennedy Plaza.

May 24 - The Architect's Newspaper Blog

While traditional enclosed malls, big box stores, and strip malls are struggling in an uncertain retail marketplace, sales at America's outlet malls are growing at a healthy pace. One mall near New York City is showing the pains of popularity.

May 24 - The New York Times

Is revitalization without displacement possible? Although it's a harder and longer process than unmitigated gentrification, Brent Toderian argues that "positive and responsible change" can coexist with the maintenance of existing communities.

May 23 - HuffPost British Columbia

New census data shows that America's cities continue to grow at a faster rate than their suburbs, sustaining the reversal of a decades-long trend.

May 23 - The Wall Street Journal

With arresting infographics, architect Seth Goodman aims to expose the absurd parking requirements that can be found in cities across America.

May 23 - DC.Streetsblog

Seeking to trim budgets and 'distribute scarce resources more efficiently,' Mayor Rahm Emanuel's controversial plan to shrink Chicago's school system moved ahead yesterday with the Board of Ed's vote to shut 49 of the city's elementary schools.

May 23 - Chicago Tribune

A proposal for a vertical neighborhood in Delhi is long on height but short on insight, according to Greg Randolph of the American India Foundation. Is Delhi ‘poised to repeat the public housing mistakes of the West’?

May 23 - The Global Urbanist

BLOG POST

Using bicycle racks as partitions in lieu of fences, called "bike breaks", in heavily trafficked areas accomplishes two goals at once and fends off the design wonks.

May 23 - Ian Sacs

Across America, developers and municipalities are trying to adapt a relic of the sprawling post-war suburbs for a more urbane 21st century. Can office park makeovers revive these increasingly barren landscapes?

May 23 - The Wall Street Journal

BLOG POST

All economics and no philosophy can make a planner a dull boy. In that sense, Carl Schramm’s recent article in Forbes magazine is absolutely right—but only to a degree. I’ll do my best to explain why.

May 23 - Norman Wright

With little fanfare, a rental housing crisis has gripped Canada. 42 per cent of young adults live with their parents and hundreds of thousands are on affordable housing waiting lists. It's time for Ottawa to step in, argues Denise Balkissoon.

May 23 - The Globe and Mail

Although a growing list of communities (of which Portland is the largest) have banned the addition of fluoride to tap water, such places are doing so against the recommendations of the medical establishment. What's driving the backlash?

May 23 - The Atlantic Cities