The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Scientists have created <em>sounds</em> from air pollution data that allow listeners to hear the striking differences and similarities between the air we breathe in America's most polluted city and remote pine forests.

September 13 - The Atlantic

Citing a lack of affordable housing, a Manhattan Community Board has sent architecture's hot young firm, Denmark-base Bjarke Ingels Group (aka BIG), back to the drawing board to amend the design for their premier New York project.

September 13 - The New York Observer

America's burgeoning bicycle culture gets the star treatment, as <em>USA Today</em> focuses its attention on the new infrastructure, new funding, and new culture that have made bicycling in Portland an ease.

September 13 - USA Today

Reflecting on his experiences at CNU's recent Transportation Summit, Jarrett Walker examines "the mutual incomprehension that plagues the relationship between urban designers and transit planners."

September 13 - Human Transit

"It's like the gardener's version of graffiti," says one. In San Francisco, activists hope to transform once-purely ornamental street trees into fruit-bearing ones, to provide fresh fruit to the local community.

September 13 - Los Angeles Times

A deal was reached this week between Seattle's City Council and a local hedge-fund manager to build a basketball and hockey arena in the Sodo section of the city. But will the deal be enough to lure professional basketball back to the city?

September 13 - The Seattle Times

As Generation Y-ers (or Millennials) reach maturity, some question the generation's ongoing adoration of the city, and whether it will continue as they begin to marry and raise children.

September 13 - The Atlantic Cities

Hopes are high that the East River Ferry connecting Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan can become a viable commuting mode, while also boosting development around its landings. Although ridership is growing, some doubt if it can become self-sustaining.

September 13 - The New York Times

BLOG POST

Conventional planning tends to consider traffic congestion asignificant cost and roadway expansion the preferred solution. It evaluates transport system performance based on indicators such as roadway Level of Service (LOS) and peak-period traffic

September 13 - Todd Litman

The National Association of City Transportation Officials, representing fifteen major American cities, released the second edition of its Urban Bikeway Design Guide on Sept. 6. It includes a new chapter on bicycle boulevards.

September 13 - Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Jay Walljasper chronicles the decline of lively public spaces in the era of "rampant traffic, proliferating privatization, heightened security...and the internet," and human kind's existential need for protecting and expanding the public realm.

September 12 - On The Commons

William Heisel kicks of a series examining the infectious disease more common than AIDS, hepatitis, or Lyme disease. What environmental elements are contributing to its spread and what can planners and public health officials do to respond?

September 12 - Reporting on Health

In the the first of a 2-part series on transit and gentrification, WAMU's Martin Di Caro reports on the rapidly developing (and gentrifying) Georgia Avenue corridor in Washington D.C.

September 12 - Transportation Nation

As the L.A. City Council prepares to consider final approval for a proposed downtown football stadium and renovated convention center, Jim Newton ponders to what extent community groups will be able to leverage the fast-tracked approvals process.

September 12 - Los Angeles Times

Going beyond the analytical parameters of the popular Walk Score website, a new site aims to broaden the scope of analysis to include more qualitative information, such as safety and streetscape, in determining which areas are pedestrian friendly.

September 12 - Fast Company Co.Exist

Continuing to chronicle what he sees as an 'urban migration' from suburban office parks, Richard Florida provides the Bay Area illustration of this movement, as he sees the center of Silicon Valley heading to San Francisco from Santa Clara County.

September 12 - San Francisco Chronicle

While the housing crash may have temporarily halted the dramatic growth in downtown LA's residential sector, new retail and restaurant openings continued. Now, as the housing market recovers, developers are clawing to get back to building residences.

September 12 - Los Angeles Downtown News

A time when your mobile phone can help you navigate the homogenous corridors of an indoor mall as easily as the route that got you there is, seemingly, not far off, as Seoul unveils an app that can navigate the city both above and below street level.

September 12 - The Atlantic Cities

Michael Powell looks at the penalties facing drivers that strike pedestrians and cyclists in New York City, and finds depressingly few repercussions.

September 12 - The New York Times

Cities consistently experience higher temperatures than the surrounding countryside due to the 'heat island' effect. With global warming exacerbating these effects, cities are trying to lower local contributors to urban heat.

September 12 - NPR