The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Architect Mattias Hollwich talks about BOOM, a community designed with the unique needs of gay and lesbian retirees that has become a blueprint for new retirement developments the world over.

December 5 - SmartPlanet

Sam Graves at Dwell says that Detroit's Lafayette Park, planned by Mies van der Rohe in 1956, is a rare success story from the planned developments of that era.

December 5 - Dwell

The Port Authority of N.Y & N.J toll increase on Hudson River bridges and tunnels causes a 4% drop in vehicles and 3.7% increase in PATH train ridership despite fare increase; 3/5% increase in E-Z pass usage, and 20% increase in toll revenue.

December 5 - The New York Times- N.Y. / Region

David Levinson poses some possible answers, such as inaccurate project scopes, insufficient economies of scale, and an increase in safety standards.

December 5 - The Transportationist

BLOG POST

Bad planning simply extrapolates past trends: “We experienced 2% annual growth during the last decade, so we’ll assume that will continue into the future.” Good planning attempts to understand underlying factors that affect change.

December 4 - Todd Litman

Eric Jaffe reports on new research by urban travel behavior expert Bradley Lane of U. of Texas/El Paso on elasticity of gas prices and bus and rail ridership. Interestingly, rail ridership spiked twice as much as bus ridership when gas prices rose.

December 4 - The Atlantic Cities

One of the few remaining prototypes for Buckminster Fuller's "autonomous dwelling machine" - a 24 ft geodesic dome - has been restored and is on view now in Miami's Design District.

December 4 - The Art Newspaper

The Cleveland National Forest Foundation is suing SANDAG over a $200 billion transportation plan that purportedly only promotes sprawl through freeway extensions.

December 4 - KPBS

Brainchild of libertarians, seasteads are brand new cities built upon the ocean. It's not as far-fetched as it sounds, according to this article's author, but it will have to overcome the myriad engineering, energy, and legal challenges.

December 4 - The Economist

Tod Newcombe reports on pedestrian-only malls like Buffalo's, which after 25 years has been so unsuccessful that they want to turn it back into a road. So why are these ped malls failing?

December 3 - Governing Magazine

A new report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency says that U.S. counties with a significant number of jobs in the energy sector have seen a rise in home prices that is unusual in this recession.

December 3 - The Oklahoman

Architect and planner Alexander Garvin takes a walk through New York City's public spaces, and says the city has been paying too much attention to new buildings and not enough on the public realm.

December 3 - The New York Times

A recent rezoning led to high economic hopes for downtown Brooklyn. But a more recent economic downturn seems to have undermined those expectations. Indeed, some growth has occurred, but success depends on whom you ask.

December 3 - Brooklyn Bureau

Various reports detail how Mumbai can become a world-class city by listing infrastructure and development goals, but, as Nayantara Kilachand points out, "cultural and social nuance" need to be--but aren't--factored in.

December 3 - The Wall Street Journal

During his tenure as governor, Romney took several pro-smart growth actions, says Alec MacGillis in the New Republic.

December 2 - The Oregonian

Well ahead of it's time, San Francisco adopted a 'transit-first policy' in 1973. However, the 'drive-alone' mode dominates at 39%. While far better than elsewhere in the Bay Area and much of the U.S., transit remains clearly in second place at 32%.

December 2 - San Francisco Examiner

Robin Rather, CEO of Collective Strength, speaks about how planners can build support for planning in their communities and counter critics.

December 2 - APA

Trail Towns, a program that promotes the economic potential of rails-to-trails systems, explains how art can create a sense of place and promote creative reuse along the trail.

December 2 - Trail Towns

Josh Stephens writes that while Al Queda seems obsessed with air travel, they have attacked transit in other countries and the U.S. system is vulnerable.

December 2 - InTransition

The Boston Public Market construction has been slow going - in fact, it's still in the blueprint stage - but officials say work will begin this summer in a site along the Rose Kennedy Greenway, the part built over the Big Dig site.

December 2 - The Atlantic Cities