The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The U.S. Supreme Court turned down a request by the National Association of Home Builders to hear their lawsuit against the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District's use of the 'indirect source rule', better known as a 'smog fee'.

October 5 - Mercury News

Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach are trying to transform homes, workplaces, and schools to improve public health, writes Anna Gorman for the Los Angeles Times.

October 5 - Los Angeles Times

Richard Florida ranks countries based on the proportion of workers in the 'creative class.' He ranks the U.S. 27th in the world, trailing a top ten including Singapore, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany and Switzerland.

October 5 - The Atlantic Cities

While many stories have been written about Detroit's turnaround, it took the top spot on Forbes list of most dangerous cities. Detroit had 1,111 violent crimes reported per 100,000 residents, which included 345 murders, writes John Giuffo.

October 5 - Forbes

Brazil's economic boom has revitalized the five-block Rua Augusta and turned it into a "cultural blast furnace," writes Vincent Bevins for the Los Angeles Times.

October 5 - Los Angeles Times

Mera Rubell, one of America's premier art collectors, explains to Richard Florida why she loves collecting her art in Miami, and which is the best American City for artists.

October 5 - The Atlantic

In Washington, D.C., Capital Bikeshare just celebrated its "1st Birthday Bash" according to Coleen Gentles.

October 5 - City Parks Blog

With over 8 million people sharing the streets and sidewalks of New York City, there is bound to be a clash between transportation modes. Who's to blame? Lyndsey Scofield says that there is bad behavior on all sides.

October 5 - This Big City

Last week, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into a law two CEQA reform bills that will expedite the court review process for some job-creating projects. Joel R. Reynolds editorializes on the move's risk to the basic principles of CEQA.

October 5 - The Sacramento Bee

In this article and accompanying video, architecture critic Michael Kimmelman and Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden tour the Melrose section of the South Bronx. Along the way, affordability and density are apparent hallmarks of the undertaking.

October 5 - The New York Times

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Garamond, serif">In many ways, the Great Recession has been a frightening time for planners. As development slowed, the flow of applications submitted for new development slowed from its torrent at the height of the housing boom to the trickle it is today.<span>  </span>With the decline in applications came a decline in workload for public-sector planners working in current planning roles and a decline in revenue for the jurisdictions that employed them.<span>  </span>The end result was hundreds of planners being laid off, and private-sector planning firms competing with one another for ever-decreasing shares of work from public- and private-sector clients.</span> </p>

October 4 - Justin Steinmann

The Dubai Executive Council has approved the Dubai Urban Development Master Plan 2020, and will establish a 'Supreme Urban Planning Council,' to streamline the process.

October 4 - Constuction Week

BLOG POST

<p> In a <a href="/node/51680">recent post</a>, Todd Litman criticized the Texas Transportation Institute&#39;s <a href="http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/">Urban Mobility Report</a>.  In this post, I&#39;d like to do something a little different: assume that TTI&#39;s congestion estimates are more or less reliable, and try to learn something from them.  So here are a few observations: </p>

October 4 - Michael Lewyn

Every year the APA reveals a list of great public spaces in America. Bicentennial Capitol Mall Park in Tennessee is just one of they have chosen. Other places include Milwaukee RiverWalk in Wisconsin and Monument Circle in Indiana.

October 4 - American Planning Association

Andres Sevstuk, lecturer at MIT and head of the City Form Research Group describes how the new Urban Network Analysis toolbox is "taking a much more rigorous approach to look at the work of urban design."

October 4 - The Boston Globe

A crosswalk in Little Rock, Arkansas is forbidden to pedestrians from 6am to 6pm every day. Tim McKuin asks, what's the deal?

October 4 - Move Arkansas

In a rather remarkable application of new, carbon-free renewable power to obtain additional oil from old wells, solar thermal technology involving mirrors placed above an oil field in Coalinga, CA will create steam to inject into the wells.

October 4 - Reuters via Los Angeles Times - Business

The French city of Nantes was for generations an industrial shipbuilding center, but that business gasped its last breath in 1987. City leaders began working then to reimagine the city, and part of that visions is, yes, a mechanical elephant.

October 4 - The New York Times

Steven Huff, who is chairman of a concrete company, is building a 13 bedroom, 14 bath home in Highlandville, Missouri out of his company's energy-efficient concrete. When built, it will be one of the largest homes in the U.S.

October 4 - The Kansas City Star

In a popular new development in Brooklyn built near transit, 50% of parking spaces are going unused. Why are parking requirements so overspec'ed?, asks Jeremy Smerd.

October 4 - Crain's