The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The new casino rising along Philadelphia's Delaware River is likely to be little more than a drab Big Box with gambling inside, according to this review from Philadelphia Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron.

March 23 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

9.5-acres of the planned 85-acre expansion of Brooklyn Bridge Park opened at Pier 1 yesterday. Curbed NY has pictures.

March 23 - Curbed

Austin's Capital MetroRail Red Line opens today after two years of delay and budget overruns. Intended as a showcase line, Yonah Freemark claims the line will see very few riders.

March 22 - the transport politic

Barcelona, Spain is planning a redesign of La Diagonal, an important boulevard, and is asking citizens to make the final choice between two alternatives or no change at all.

March 22 - Arkinet

Jewish groups in Los Angeles are taking on the lack of healthy groceries in certain parts of the city, the so-called "food deserts" of LA.

March 22 - The Los Angeles Times

Jevon's Paradox is the idea that the more efficient a resource becomes, the more it is consumed. With new future fuels in the works, those promoting sustainability and conservation find themselves at odds with innovation.

March 22 - Fast Company

A new report from the Furman Center finds that the effect of the 100+ rezonings under the Bloomberg administration is minimal, with upzonings and downzonings almost canceling each other out.

March 22 - The New York Times

The NYT looks at a provision in a state assembly bill to restore transit funding to beleaguered CA transit agencies by allowing voters in regions to approve gas fees. Not only was the provision dropped by the Senate - the governor vetoed the bill.

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

A $45 million federal earmark to help fund a maglev train between Los Angeles and Las Vegas is instead going to widening a freeway connection to the airport.

March 22 - Las Vegas Sun

Shanghai is preparing for the 2010 World Expo, but the Chinese investment won't create anything like the urban investment created in Vancouver for the Olympics, says Brendon Crain.

March 22 - Next American City

In a study in Europe using cellphone GPS data, researchers discovered that people rarely leave a six-mile area around where they live. GPS cellphone data is being used for a host of urban planning studies like this.

March 22 - Planning Commissioners Journal

FEATURE

Like the U.S. in the mid-20th Century, much of the growth in Abu Dhabi over the last 35 years has catered primarily to the automobile. But new plans are re-wiring the city to make Abu Dhabi's streets more hospitable to pedestrians.

March 22 - Gary Toth

Pres. Obama has come out in favor of developing more nuclear power plants, and the public is warming up to the idea because of the climate change benefits of switching from coal. Hendrik Hertzberg looks at the politics of atomic power.

March 22 - The New Yorker

A Welsh company is using ground-up plastic remnants to create a building material sturdy enough for housing.

March 21 - Treehugger

A new book argues that yes, the priorities of private property often trump those of democracy, community, free expression and life outside of the marketplace.

March 21 - On The Commons

This article from <em>Architect</em> looks at how GIS is integrating itself into the toolbox of architects.

March 21 - Architect

Activists have turned the site of a former inner-city freeway in San Francisco into a community garden.

March 21 - Good

A recent court ruling preventing a California town from placing a cap on residential development could change the shape of the state, according to the <em>San Francisco Chronicle</em>'s John King.

March 21 - San Francisco Chronicle

Jon Hockenyos makes a radical proposal that cities should establish their own terms for how much local property is worth, free of "market value", in order to unstick frozen property markets.

March 20 - Citiwire.net

In Corpus Christi, Texas, a park development fee on inner city properties has developers crying foul, claiming it discourages development in inner cities where it should be encouraged.

March 20 - Corpus Christi Caller-Times