The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

An ex-pat American returns home to Milwaukee, and is overwhelmed by the extensive auto-oriented infrastructure needed to support the U.S. lifestyle, very different from his life in Almeria, Spain.

November 9 - Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

The current government strategy to increase fuel efficiency is to mandate it through increases in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, currently set for 35.5 mpg by 2016. In this piece, auto executives suggest a better way - using gas taxes.

November 9 - Automobile

FEATURE

November 9 - Nate Berg

A new program in India is teaching women in tribes that live in remote areas how to make and use solar panels.

November 9 - Inhabitat

In Starksboro, Vermont, planners are using storytelling and community art projects to get at the heart of what matters to residents.

November 9 - Burlington Free Press

That was the message of nonprofit San Francisco Beautiful in their successful campaign to stop Proposition D, which would have created a special sign district in the mid-Market area in hopes of revitalizing it.

November 9 - PreservationNation

Put the chief planners of seven of North America's most progressive cities in a room and ask about their challenges, they inevitably point to the overriding role of the political leaders they serve. Expanding public open space also was raised.

November 9 - S.F. Streetsblog

Private industry often points to governmental regulations as a source of added expense that makes them less competitive. In this case, NYC's requirement two years ago that taxis accept credit cards has resulted in growth in ridership and revenue.

November 9 - The New York Times - N.Y/Region

BLOG POST

My classmate was up in front of everyone, flapping and flailing, pleading his case and getting shot down at every turn. It was a bit like watching a train wreck in slow motion. <p class="MsoNormal"> It was also kind of like looking in the mirror. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> I’m just more than halfway through a planning school studio project working on the beautiful (no, really) Lower Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. They’ve teamed up about 15 planner/urban designers with about 45 landscape architects, who, as I mentioned <a href="/node/40796">last time</a>, are reasonably bonkers. That was about a month and a half ago; since then, I’ve begun to think maybe I’m the one needing a room with padded walls. </p>

November 9 - Jeffrey Barg

<em>Cool Town Studios</em> offers this list of 19 development types for the creative class.

November 9 - Cool Town Studios

Cities across the globe are rediscovering their waterfronts. As this piece from <em>Places</em> discusses, revitalization of these former industrial areas includes more than just green space.

November 8 - Places

A group of industry and policy leaders discuss the current state of the technology and infrastructure that will drive change for the auto industry.

November 8 - The Planning Report

This week's <em>Smart City</em> features discussions with Harvard economist Ed Glaeser about shrinking cities, and with urban design critic Randy Gragg about interactive art and urban design projects.

November 8 - Smart City

Victorville, CA is a textbook case of the housing bubble gone wrong. Moving forward, Warren Karlenzig argues that places like Victorville show the need to consider a new paradigm of density and efficiency moving forward.

November 8 - Green Flow blog

After twenty years of reunification, the eastern part of Germany is finally beginning to lure educated workers back.

November 8 - The New York Times

Transit stops are now included on Walkscore, the map-mashup website that scores neighborhoods based on their accessibility and walkability.

November 7 - NRDC Switchboard

Jakarta, Indonesia is the world's sixth most populated metropolitan area, and it's on track to move up in ranks within the next decade. Some planners are trying to figure out how to guide this developing megacity onto a sustainable path.

November 7 - The City Fix

In the name of economic stimulus, the government has invested deeply in the very business (real estate) that was driving the economy down. Does that make sense? Streetsblog's Ryan Avent reports.

November 7 - Streetsblog

Experts from heritage group Historic Scotland have developed a technique using lasers to create precise digital representations of enormous sites. Mount Rushmore is the next location to be captured.

November 7 - The New York Times

The Urbanophile reports from RailVolution in Boston, including a video interview with John Robert Smith, CEO of Reconnecting America.

November 7 - The Urbanophile