The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Street furniture is a critical part of the urban makeup in cities. New developments in the Middle East are beginning to recognize its importance.

January 24 - Construction Week

Need a sustainable slogan to show your green cred? Look no further than Building Magazine's Sustainability Buzzword Generator.

January 23 - Building

In a new twist of "managed lanes", this comic looks at ways to accommodate cell phone users so as not to affect those not using their cells.

January 23 - Go Comics

Granville Bridge was built in 1954 for a growing Vancouver, with giant cloverleaf offramps on each end. Today, the city has taken a different direction.

January 23 - Price Tags

Jon Zemke ponders the many possibilities for building a world-class transportation network throughout metro Detroit.

January 23 - Metromode

2008 saw one of the greatest number of deaths worldwide from natural disasters. Factors contributing to the high number of deaths include extreme weather brought about by climate change, as well as rapid urbanization in vulnerable areas.

January 23 - The Globe and Mail

A massive WWII-era airfield in Berlin has been closed down, but city officials are looking for ways to take advantage of the large space. New ideas abound -- from a proposal for a "red light" district to plans for an artificial mountain.

January 23 - Der Spiegel

Landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx, featured in a new exhibition in Rio de Janeiro, used the principles of cubism and abstraction to create modern landscapes using native tropical plants.

January 23 - The New York Times

The long-term planning principles that have made the National Mall a successful and adaptable public space were in the spotlight during the Inauguration. Cities should take a lesson, argues Christopher Hawthorne.

January 23 - Los Angeles Times

Plans to scrape hundreds of thousands of acres of the Mojave Desert for solar panel installations may endanger wildlife and are pitting environmentalists against each other.

January 23 - Salon.com

As the Federal government prepares to pour massive amounts of funding into road infrastructure, James Russell sends up a warning that the 'shovel-ready' projects may just be more bridges to nowhere.

January 23 - Bloomberg.com

FEATURE

John Norquist, President and CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism, believes that President Obama should reconsider committing stimulus funds to decades-old freeway expansion projects and take transportation policy in a new direction.

January 22 - John Norquist

BLOG POST

<p> It is a chestnut of urban planning that a neighborhood must have a certain number of dwelling units per acre (usually around 8 or 10) in order to have adequate bus service. But the quarter-acre lot seems to get no respect: too dense for estate-home luxury, not dense enough to constitute &quot;smart growth&quot;. But a 9 year-old girl recently taught me that, at least for children of a certain age, these medium-density neighborhoods have their advantages. </p>

January 22 - Michael Lewyn

Secretary of Transportation appointee Ray LaHood spoke to the Senate today about Amtrak, toll roads, and sustainability.

January 22 - Grist

In Oregon, transportation officials are set to vote on an ambitious list of transportation projects that they hope will garner funding when Congress allocates transportation money this year.

January 22 - The Oregonian

Hopes are fading from transit enthusiasts who wanted to see high speed rail and public transit profit from Obama's stimulus package. Even the road lobby is disappointed that infrastructure will get less than tax cuts and state bail-outs.

January 22 - The New York Times

This editorial suggests three strategies to make the American auto fleet more efficient: renewing the hybrid tax credit program (many credits have been exhausted), pursuing a "cash for clunkers program", and increasing the gas tax to supplement CAFE.

January 22 - The New York Times

The line between suburb and city blurs as suburbs struggle with the problems of the cities' past. But there's hope, say this article's authors, who make a case for regionalism and government's active role in reinventing such struggling places.

January 22 - Newsweek

The author of this article offers a few ideas on how to better use our 46,000 miles of highway. From the integration of rail lines to the development of electricity distribution grids, the interstate has more potential than it seems.

January 22 - Metropolis Magazine

Plans for a new school and mixed use development in Brooklyn have neighbors excited about the project filling a need but also disappointed about the new project's height, which they say will ruin their view.

January 22 - The New York Times