The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
The Glass Godzilla in the City
The Museum Tower in Dallas, a giant glass condominium, rears its ugly head as it reflects glaring light onto the site it was named after.
A Friendly Look at Invading Urban Plants
Benjamin Wellington, Student ASLA, favorably reviews Peter Del Tredici’s field guide to naturally-growing plants in urban areas.
BLOG POST
Nothing really pays for itself (except maybe toll roads)
<p> Arguments over transportation policy often run as follows: </p> <p> HIGHWAY SUPPORTER: Highways pay for themselves! Buses/trains don't! So highways good and everything else bad bad bad! </p> <p> TRANSIT SUPPORTER: But highways create bad externalities like pollution and climate change! So if highways were taxed at their true cost gas would cost a zillion billion cajillion dollars per gallon! (followed by numerous counterarguments and counter-counterarguments that I won't bore you with, except as written below...) </p> <p> It seems to me that these arguments miss one point: even if the highway system as a whole pays for itself, the system is so chock full of cross-subsidies that each individual road doesn't (except for toll roads). </p>
Undersea-Oriented Development
Expo 2012 is happening now in Korea, and features a panorama of a futuristic underwater city as part of a focus on future sustainability.
Displaced Protesters Fight Urban Developers in Taipei
An urban renewal development reaches a violent climax as a clash breaks out between construction workers and protesters.
Developer Switches Sides, Becomes Planning Director
John Schlichting has been a developer for 26 years, but on July 9th he leaves private business to become the planning director for the City of Gaithersburg, Maryland.
At Manhattan Big Box Mall, Parking Garage Still Sits Empty
A big box mall built in East Harlem, complete with an 1,100 space garage, is seeing its customers walk to shop instead of driving. The suburban assumptions underlying the enormous garage never panned out in the heart of the city.
Understanding How City Rules Affect Urban Areas
In this excerpt from the new book, "City Rules: How Regulations Affect Urban Form," author Emily Talen outlines the ways in which zoning ordinances, building codes and other bureaucratic restrictions negatively affect urban areas.
BLOG POST
A Tree Grows in Pigeon Town
I don’t know what it is about New Orleans that makes me wax rhapsodic. But something about the city makes everyday life look poetic. I returned to the Crescent City last week after having last visited just seven months ago, when a tree planting
Falling in Love With One of the Filthiest Creeks in the Country
Steven Stern explores New York's Newtown Creek through the eyes of Mitch Waxman, a self-taught historian and unlikely devotee of the aquatic wastedump-turned-Superfund site.
Levittown: "It Was Wonderful"
Locals celebrate 60 years of Levittown, the trend-setting, post-war suburb of Philadelphia. Meanwhile nearby, a 17th century mansion is saved.
The Completely Privatized City
Sandy Springs, Georgia has taken the libertarian tip and privatized almost every city service - including planning. So does it work?
Facebook's New Infographic: Where Are We 'Checking In'?
Tyler Falk reports on new data released by Facebook, mapping the top 5 "social landmarks" in 25 cities from Seoul to São Paulo.
Public Art Rejuvenates a City
Less than 25 years ago, Nantes was an old port town languishing in the wake of failing industry. But thanks to a commitment to public art, it has since become a cultural mecca and thriving tourist destination, Frank Browning reports.
Study Says Induced Traffic Effect Too Often Ignored
Despite many studies confirming the effect of induced traffic, the effect is often ignored in the transport models used for project appraisal, says a team of Scandanavian researchers creating an extreme bias in the assessment of new projects.
Tackling the Auto-Orientation and Urban Pollution of Mexico
The City of Villahermosa, Mexico, an oil industry town in Tabasco, is reclaiming space from the auto, rejuvenating their urban spaces, and on a more basic level, cleaning the water supply and modernizing their sewage systems.
San Francisco Launches Website to Encourage DIY Urbanism
The city recently launched SFBetterStreets.org to be a central source of information to help residents with street improvements like traffic-calming, parklets, bike corrals, plantings, art installations, and sidewalk fixtures.
Generation X Author Pitches Futuristic Utility Pole
Douglas Coupland, most famous for authoring the book Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, is pitching a combined street lamp / wifi / cell phone tower to bring connectivity to Vancouver's streets.
The "Perfect Storm" that Caused the U.S. Public Housing Fiasco
Architect Ray Gindroz says that a perfect storm of factors - economic change, crushing policy decisions, and over-reaching ambition - brought about the disaster of public housing in the U.S. like Pruitt-Igoe.
Towers in the Park, 2012 Style
Julie V. Iovine laments that while walkability is the watchword of the day, architects have to design what they're hired to design -- and that often means designing iconic buildings that turn a blind eye to pedestrians.
Borough of Carlisle
Smith Gee Studio
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
