The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Under intense political pressure to retain the full application of the CA Environmental Quality Act to CA High Speed Rail project, Gov. Brown withdrew his proposal to allow the project certain exceptions to lawsuits.

June 23 - Los Angeles Times

Google Transit has changed the way people plan their public transportation trips. Now there's an app, OnTheBus, for people with visual, hearing, physical and cognitive impairments. Zak Stone describes the tool.

June 23 - Good

Just as Mayor Bloomberg had opened a striking new front in America's war on obesity with his ban on oversized soft drinks, a revolutionary "crisp-crusted, ooey-gooey" weapon of mass seduction has been unveiled, writes Rene Lynch.

June 22 - Los Angeles Times

Ever wonder how maps were made in the decades before vector-based graphics software like Adobe Illustrator were invented? The Atlantic has posted a film from the 1940's that documents the process of "Modern Map Making."

June 22 - The Atlantic

While the east coast suffers through a brutal early summer heat wave, researchers in Los Angeles have announced the findings of the most advanced regional climate modeling ever conducted, which shows that So Cal will feel the heat soon enough.

June 22 - Streetsblog LA

Announced this week by Deputy Mayor Robert Steel, a new program being launched by the Department of City Planning on July 2 will seek to dramatically improve the time it takes a project to traverse the city's land use approval process.

June 22 - The Real Deal

With the help of 15 architects, the editors and staff of <em>California Home+Design</em> have selected 25 buildings worthy of immediate demolition. See if you agree with their picks.

June 22 - California Home+Design

Forever plagued with issues, from lack of funding to a lack of political support, Philadelphia's SEPTA mass-transit network is (again) on the verge of collapse.

June 22 - Philadelphia City Paper

Championed for over a decade, the LEED certification program has given notoriety to many newly constructed 'green' buildings, but new measures are helping us measure sustainability at the community scale, writes Kaid Benfield.

June 22 - Switchboard

Amanda Kolson Hurley surveys the innovative architecture and urban planning transforming America's notoriously stodgy capital into a model of progressive urbanism.

June 22 - The Architect's Newspaper

As cities across America seek to replicate New York's celebrated new park, Charles A. Birnbaum distills the secrets behind the High Line's success.

June 22 - Huffington Post

Asian and Hispanic immigration rates have reversed from 2007: Asians now constitute 36% of all new arrivals (legal and illegal) while Hispanic rates, for a number of reasons, have dropped to 31%, according to a new Pew Research Center report.

June 22 - The New York Times - U.S.

Mixed-income housing - infusing affordable housing with market-rate units - is relying more on incentives and subsidies, than mandates, to stimulate development.

June 21 - Urban Land

While glimmers of a recovery can be seen in the eyes of private business, local governments continue to see red, shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs.

June 21 - The New York Times

Hot on the heels of the hard fought passage of a new community plan for Hollywood comes news that the City Council has approved five years of funding for L.A.'s planning department to revise the city's zoning code, for the first time since 1946.

June 21 - Curbed LA

Andrew C. Revkin delivers the good news out of Rio, where global leaders are gathered to argue incessantly over how not to address climate change. At a side event, $175 billion in loans have been pledged for sustainable transportation.

June 21 - The New York Times

BLOG POST

<p> The High Line curving through the west Chelsea section of Manhattan bordering the Hudson River has to be one of the most successful planning and design stories in New York City in recent years, touted as a crowning achievement of the reign of Mayor Bloomberg, to be emulated in cities across the country. </p> <p> Testimonials and awards not withstanding, I am wary of the cloying elitism of a crowing Bloomberg. Having followed the project’s promotions for the last decade and the community’s evolution for the last half century, I am skeptical of its heralded success. And with the recent sounding of related development controversies, a second opinion is in order. </p>

June 21 - Sam Hall Kaplan

Announced this week by <em>All Things Considered</em> hosts Melissa Block and Robert Siegel, National Public Radio is launching a new series called the NPR Cities Project and they're asking listeners for their input.

June 21 - NPR

Concerned about becoming a "western Detroit," the city of Reno, built around the gambling industry, seeks to shake off that trademark with new investments in other industries and amenities.

June 21 - The Atlantic Cities

Nations like Denmark are leading the world in producing renewable energy. But the transition to renewables doesn’t just amount to the number of solar panels or wind turbines that can be built, it takes a smart grid to maximize their potential.

June 21 - THE DIRT