The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

For those who thought having to stand to use a Segway required far too much exertion, Honda has introduced the Uni-Cub, a radical new way for humans to avoid ever having to be upright again.

July 27 - Los Angeles Times

Singapore de-channelizes an urban river as part of a plan to preserve more of its rainwater, creating a park in the process.

July 27 - THE DIRT

Zak Stone spotlights a new app being tested in Germany that can predict and prevent traffic jams, and promises to reduce CO2 emissions in the process.

July 27 - Good

Calling it the "next phase of the Internet", Google announced the details of the roll out of its ultrahigh-speed Internet network this week, which will offer speeds 100 times faster than typical broadband connections to residents of Kansas City.

July 27 - The New York Times

In a short video, part comedy/part anthropological study, <em>The New York Times</em> documents "The Subway Shuffle": that "daily gamble" as NYC commuters dash "to victory, or despair" between local and express trains arriving on the same platform.

July 27 - The New York Times

Denver is confronting a dilemma facing many cities as they build out their transit systems: what types of uses should be developed in close proximity to stations, and who should these facilities serve.

July 27 - The Wall Street Journal

Simon Clark and Chris Spillane document the illegal, and often squalid, housing that can be found only three miles from the gleaming Olympic Stadium.

July 27 - Bloomberg

Cleveland's bus rapid transit system, called the HealthLine, only opened in 2008, but it has already shown signs of "stimulating economic growth significantly" along Euclid Avenue.

July 27 - Urban Land

Ed Walker saw what few others in his hometown of Roanoke, Virgina were able to see: potential. Walker is part a growing group of "vanguard developers" intent on changing the fortunes of their cities by the sheer force of their vision (and wallets).

July 27 - The New York Times

As cities across America continue to pour public funds into limited use venues in their downtowns, <em>American Dirt</em> looks at why such venues, and convention centers in particular, refuse to engage with their surrounding streets or neighborhood.

July 27 - American Dirt

With suburbia saturated, large retailers chase an urban market poised for growth.

July 26 - The New York Times

A mixed bag of land-use changes, including relaxed parking standards and an increased threshold for environmental review, were passed by the Seattle City Council this week. Critics complain the legislation favors developers over residents.

July 26 - The Seattle Times

This weekend's opening of the 12-acre park stretching from City Hall to the L.A.'s cultural acropolis marks the maturation of a downtown transformed from office park to vibrant neighborhood, reports Sam Allen.

July 26 - Los Angeles Times

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> A recent paper by Harvard economists <span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm">Daniel Shoag</span> and<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif"> </span></span><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm">Peter Ganong</span> titled, <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif"><a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2081216">Why Has Regional Convergence in the U.S. Stopped?</a></span> indicates that land development regulations tend to increase housing costs, which contributes to inequality by excluding lower-income households from more economically productive urban regions. Does this means that planners are guilty of increasing income inequality? </p>

July 26 - Todd Litman

Airplanes sink in melted asphalt, trains derail along kinked tracks, highways buckle over dry soil; these aren't scenes from a science fiction film depicting a future plagued by global warming. Climate change is here, and it's taxing our grid.

July 26 - The New York Times

As China goes car crazy, a new crowdsourcing website seeks to address the needs of Beijing's lowly pedestrians and bicyclists, reports Nate Berg.

July 26 - The Atlantic Cities

Under new legislation introduced this week in City Council, naming rights for Pittsburgh's public buildings and advertising on city vehicles and employee uniforms will be sold to the highest bidder in an effort to monetize the city's resources.

July 26 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Priced out of Brooklyn's hippest neighborhoods, young professionals who may have once fled Manhattan in search of affordable housing and "postindustrial charm" are making the reverse move in search of cheaper rents, reports Laura Kusisto.

July 26 - The Wall Street Journal

In stark contrast to recent laws targeting immigrants in Arizona and Alabama, Baltimore is joining a host of other (largely rust belt) cities in designing policies and programs to attract immigrants in order to stabilize their populations.

July 26 - The Washington Post

Last week the Obama administration announced that approvals for seven critical infrastructure projects at five ports along the eastern seaboard will be expedited as part of their <em>We Can't Wait</em> initiative.

July 26 - Examiner