The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

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<p> I spent the last two weeks of December in Atlanta, living (mostly) with my parents.  My life in Atlanta is much more car-dependent than my life in Jacksonville; in the latter city, I live a block from a bus stop, while in Atlanta, I live at least a mile from the nearest bus stop (and more importantly, near no sidewalks to take me to said bus stop).  So naturally, I drove everywhere in Atlanta. </p> <p> And while driving, I noticed a couple of unusual things.  First, I noticed that unlike in my Jacksonville neighborhood, bicyclists actually tried to ride on the street rather than on sidewalks.*  Second, I noticed that I was beginning to get annoyed with bicyclists- to a much greater extent than I have ever been annoyed with pedestrians while driving. </p>

January 5 - Michael Lewyn

Prevailing wisdom is that transit mode and frequency of service is dependent on residential density, which leaves low density, outer suburbs in a lurch, instilling an auto-dependent lifestyle. Not so, says Australian researcher and author Paul Mees.

January 5 - The Age: Victoria

Tim Campbell of The Urban Age Institute says that the fastest way to gain knowledge about how cities work is to get out and visit other cities.

January 5 - Citiscope

New dedicated lanes and limited-stop buses have entered the transportation picture in New York City.

January 5 - The New York Times

A new road safety bill up for consideration in Washington would increase rules and regulations for motorists and cyclists.

January 5 - Seattle Post-Intelligencer

California Governor Jerry Brown has announced plans to reduce the state's budget gaps by possibly eliminating a wide array of projects and agencies, including the state's redevelopment agencies.

January 5 - The Sacramento Bee

Rick Harrison believes that city planning has turned into a faith-based series of architectural commandments that demonize the suburbs and cast out naysayers.

January 5 - New Geography

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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">In coming weeks doctoral applications in planning are due. Why apply? </span> </p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">For professional planners, a PhD sometimes sounds interesting compared with doing a regular job in a municipality. Some designers remember studio professors who seemed to float into class, unprepared, for a few hours per week. Compared with the ups and downs of private design practice, this can seem quite appealing. Of course, some people genuinely like studying and research, want to make a contribution in that area, and have a flair for teaching. </span> </p>

January 5 - Ann Forsyth

Harvard GSD graduate Ju-Hyun Kim thinks we should be building amusement parks as skyscrapers, cutting down on the costly commute to the outside of town.

January 5 - Fast Company

MacDill Air Force Base has created a snarl of traffic in Tampa. Transportation planners are at a loss to find a solution so far.

January 5 - The St. Petersburg Times

The state's energy administrator says that "renewable energy will be a driver of Hawaii's economy at least for the next decade."

January 5 - Sustainable Business Oregon

This op-ed writer does not look kindly at the 7-year legacy of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. As Gov. Jerry Brown addresses the $28 billion budget deficit left by his predecessor, Joe Mathews considers Schwarzenegger's legacy.

January 5 - Los Angeles Times - Opinion

With the outsourcing business booming, Indian companies are building sexy new office towers with the goal of attracting the hottest software developers and consultants.

January 4 - The New York Times

Blair Kamin reflects on the soon-to-be-ex-mayor Richard Daley's legacy, his "passion to build," and how Chicago might be shaped without his influence.

January 4 - The Chicago Tribune

A handful of residential code revisions went into effect in Ohio on January 1st, including an energy conservation code with stricter standards on insulation that is causing an uproar among homebuilders.

January 4 - Builder Magazine

With few exceptions, America's largest homebuilders are slower than companies in other fields to act on environmental concerns, according to a survey conducted by Calvert Asset Management Company.

January 4 - New Urban Network

A new report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group PIRG's report estimates that road construction has cost the American public $600 billion since the highway system began.

January 4 - Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Daniel Nairn reviews Robert Kirkman's new book, The Ethics of Metropolitan Growth.

January 4 - SustainableCitiesCollective

Four billion pounds of old carpet get dumped every year in the United States, and five pounds of oil goes into producing a single pound of nylon. New recycling methods could save all that oil by producing new nylon from old with little energy cost.

January 4 - greentechmedia

Winter storms have combined with bad road engineering, geography, funding shortfalls and inequities in Sonoma County, California. drivers and cyclists can expect an unusually rough ride this year and more to come.

January 4 - The Press Democrat