The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Josh Allan Dykstra argues that the reason Millennials aren't buying cars, or much of anything else for that matter, is due to "an evolution in consciousness" that is changing what it means to own something. And it isn't limited to one generation.

July 16 - Fast Company

BLOG POST

<p> Returning home to Vancouver last week after taking in some of the 100th Anniversary world-famous Calgary Stampede, I find myself thinking about the relationship between city-defining events and place-making. I also couldn’t help remembering an unusual moment in my career that relates to the Stampede.<br /> <br /> In 2006 when I was 36, after 4 rounds of interviews, I found myself in a closed-door session with Vancouver&#39;s City Council. I was being recommended to Council to become the new Director of City Planning, replacing former Co-Directors Larry Beasley and Dr. Ann McAfee. Council was meeting me for the first time, before going in-camera to officially decide on my hiring.<br /> <br />

July 16 - Brent Toderian

A $14.6 billion package of rail improvement projects, called the "biggest modernisation of our railways since the Victorian era," has been announced by the UK's governing coalition.

July 16 - BBC News

<em>The Economist</em> looks at the improvements made to London's public spaces over the last decade, as the city's first elected mayors strove to improve the capital city's environs. So why has the city failed to keep up with its global competitors?

July 16 - The Economist

Frank Bruni pens an appreciation for the incredible transformation New York City has undergone in the last 15 years, as Mayor Bloomberg's "greenest of thumbs" has expanded the lush life across the city's five boroughs.

July 16 - The New York Times

Upending the adage that nothing gets done in D.C. these days, last week the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) released their long range plans for remaking the Southwest area of the capital, capping two years of intense debate.

July 16 - THE DIRT

When he took office last year, Rahm Emmanuel inherited a city in which a sheen of new projects hid a crumbling infrastructure. With a laundry list of initiatives, the mayor is intent on retaining the city's place amongst the world's great cities.

July 16 - The Guardian

As the number of completed parklets in San Francisco nears three dozen, after debuting only two years ago, "the latest trend in urban placemaking" has entered the planning mainstream without losing its grassroots origins.

July 16 - San Francisco Chronicle

With the CA state Senate's appropriation of $8 billion toward their $68 billion high speed rail plan, the spotlight turns to the other coast - the Northeast Corridor, with Amtrak's unveiling its updated, $151 billion plan. Both run 220 mph trains.

July 15 - Reuters via Chicago Tribune

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'">A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog post comparing the safety of inner suburbs and outer suburbs. (See <a href="/node/56468">http://www.planetizen.com/node/56468</a> )</span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'">My post showed that (in least in the metropolitan areas I looked at) inner suburbs were safer than outer suburbs, because violent deaths from murder and traffic combined were lower in the former.</span> </p>

July 15 - Michael Lewyn

<em>The Economist</em> takes notice of Houston's efforts to create a more sustainable and attractive city, a not uncomplicated task in the capital of America's energy industry.

July 15 - The Economist

Not only are transit systems subsidized, but so are America's roads. While some advocate for the reduction of road subsidies to better incentivize transit use, Josh Barro argues for more effective ways to make mass transit work better.

July 15 - City Journal

America's fundamental levels of governance are changing, writes Anna Clark in Next American City, who uses examples from Detroit and Cleveland to ascertain what the stakes are when cities cede public sector work to third parties.

July 15 - Next American City

Lillian Mathews describes "radical cartography," a movement to highlight, not hide, the process and politics associated with map-making decisions.

July 15 - Global Site Plans - The Grid

Efforts to expand bicycle-friendly infrastructure across the country have revealed the importance of comprehensive planning. Peter DeMarco reports on ways in which planners in the Boston area are trying to fill in the gaps in their emerging network.

July 14 - Boston.com

Michael Kimmelman reports on the strong ties that exist between the economic and social well-being of a city and its architecture, infrastructure and public spaces, as evinced in Bogotá, Colombia.

July 14 - The New York Times

Geoff Dyer describes the essential role that a residential component plays in any mixed-use town center. For Dyer, residences are "the substrate on which a healthy mixed-use environment is based."

July 14 - PlaceShakers

With $8 billion almost in hand (the $4.5 billion in state bonds still need to be sold), the most formidable immediate hurdles are dealing with five lawsuits facing the High Speed Rail Authority. Mike Rosenberg reports that progress has been made.

July 14 - San Jose Mercury News

Edward Jensen responds to a recent attention grabbing op-ed in <em>The Arizona Republic</em> with his own list of priorities to help enliven the core of the sixth-largest city in the country.

July 14 - Technology for a Digital Generation

With your indulgence, we'd like to inaugurate "Flush Fridays" by bringing you the latest entry in John Metcalfe's "Toilet Tuesdays" series. This week's deposit focused on Lucas, Kansas, the town in America "most proud of its public restrooms."

July 13 - The Atlantic Cities