The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Cities across the country are breathing new life into abandoned and disused inner city rail lines.

August 9 - The New York Times

London's King's Cross train station's western concourse showcases a 140-meter wide canopy, the largest single-span station structure in Europe. New technology like solar cells and old infrastructure blend together to enhance the station.

August 9 - The Independent (UK)

Public art plays a role in cities across the world. But what role exactly, and for what purpose? <em>Glass House Conversations</em> explores these questions in this series.

August 9 - Glass House Conversations

Suburban growth has coincided with the increase in immigrant population. Yet, while immigrants account for 30 percent suburban population growth, they account for only a fifth of the increase in the poor population, a recent Brookings study showed.

August 9 - Brookings

As rioting spreads across England, journalist Laurie Penny argues that structural inequalities have been ignored for so long that Britain's disenfranchised youth feel they have no stake in society.

August 9 - CommonDreams

States' borrowing ability may be limited and federal deficit reductions are expected to leave municipal market in limbo, report Kathy Bergen, Kristen Mack and Monique Garcia for Chicago Tribune.

August 9 - Chicago Tribune

The doubling of car traffic in the past 20 years in Mumbai has created a transit culture that has become dangerous for pedestrians. More than 44 percent of Mumbai citizens walk to work, and 78 percent road fatalities are pedestrians, a study finds.

August 9 - The Times Of India

The Bridge Homeless Assistance Center in Dallas has saved the city an estimated $3 million in jail time and homeless management. Architecture gets some of the credit.

August 9 - Next American City

Alex Steffen presents the idea that by focusing development into "hyperdense" communities you create a host of benefits that reduce climate change by reducing trips.

August 9 - TED

With no "rusting relic" like The High Line's trestle to hang the design on, will James Corner Field Operations create a memorable public park for Santa Monica's coastline?

August 9 - The Los Angeles Times

Israeli writer Etgar Keret has commissioned a home to be built in the narrow space between two buildings in Warsaw, Poland. The house will be 4 feet across at the widest point.

August 8 - Fast Company Design

San Francisco Chronicle urban design critic John King cautions against too much redevelopment and not enough preservation along El Camino Real in San Mateo County, where a major initiative is attempting to change much of the corridor's character.

August 8 - San Francisco Chronicle

With digital cinematography replacing location shooting and huge soundstages, the entertainment industry is becoming a lucrative, sought-after tenant in downtowns and urban areas.

August 8 - Urban Land

New York architects Tsao & McKown are developing a handful of communities in Chengdu that range from dense urban living to agrarian lifestyles.

August 8 - The Architect's Newspaper

Detroit's Oakland County suburbs are pushing to extend a light rail extension into their neighborhoods with such fervor that they may accomplish what the political system couldn't, says reporter Matt Helms.

August 8 - The Detroit Free Press

After decades of neglect, the infrastructure in the Canadian province of Quebec is in such bad condition that drivers are nervous going through tunnels and over bridges.

August 8 - The Globe and Mail

FEATURE

The U.S. is going from one financial crisis directly into another, as SAFETEA-LU, the omnibus transportation bill, expires next month, writes Roxanne Blackwell of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

August 8 - Roxanne Blackwell

Adam E. Anderson says that there is a growing need for "a hybrid landscape architect/sound artist" to sculpt the sonic environment in public spaces.

August 8 - Design Under Sky

Architectural Digest highlights films where the architectural setting plays a larger role than most of the people, from the futuristic (Blade Runner) to the contemporary (The Ghost Writer).

August 8 - Architectural Digest

Author Russell Shorto claims that "the willingness of Europeans to follow top-down social planning" makes public transit and bicycling more feasible in European cities than they are in the States where people don't always agree with technocrats.

August 8 - The New York Times