The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

French starchitect Paul Andreu is creating a new iconic building for Montreal, but writer Joseph Baker posits that one splashy building does not a beautiful city make. Baker calls for a grand vision of city form on the scale of Barecelona's plan.

November 2 - The Montreal Gazette

A major financier of Washington D.C.'s Metro system has agreed to give the transit system an extra 10 days to collect more than $40 million from the troubled system, complying with a judge's ruling that forcing Metro to pay could cause great harm.

November 2 - The Washington Post

Next American City takes a look at freeways and sees the end coming -- for some, anyway.

November 2 - Next American City

City Limits breaks down the differences between the two presidential candidates with a focus on urban issues.

November 2 - City Limits

BLOG POST

<span style="border-collapse: separate; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: #000000" class="Apple-style-span"><div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; background-color: #ffffff"><span style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px" class="Apple-style-span"><p class="MsoNormal">With due respect to <a href="http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper/TURNER/" target="_blank">Frederick Jackson Turner</a>, the American frontier closes on Tuesday.  This time, for good.</p>

November 2 - Josh Stephens

The financial woes of AIG are impacting American public transit agencies for whom it acted as a loan guarantor: now as many as 30 agencies are in technical default on their loans and could face catastrophic losses.

November 2 - Forbes

A new study warns that climate change will bring significant changes to weather patterns and coastlines, with serious planning implications for Sydney, Australia.

November 1 - Sydney Morning Herald

Huge victory for road safety and the California Bicycle Coalition was scored when CA Gov. Schwarzenegger signed 'Complete Streets Act' in September.

November 1 - CalBike Report

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow interviews presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama about his plans for electrical and industrial infrastructure, including plug-in hybrids [Video].

November 1 - The Rachel Maddow Show

BLOG POST

Recently I’ve been writing about skills that planners need—the findings from surveys of employers and the key role or writing in the planning skill set. Skills like writing, graphics, data analysis, and the ability to listen are obviously important. As <a href="/node/34807" target="_blank">Ethan Seltzer and Connie Ozawa</a>’s 2002 <span>survey found, however, several more general skills are also key. I reported these in an<a href="/node/34807" target="_blank"> earlier blog</a> and they include:</span> working well with the public and with colleagues, being a self-starter, being able to finish work on time and on budget, and understanding public needs.

November 1 - Ann Forsyth

Washington instituted a Growth Management Act in the 1980s to help the state grow smarter. But recent studies show that the GMA has made housing increasingly unaffordable.

November 1 - Washington CEO

Planners in Baltimore have unveiled a 30-year plan to remake its arts district into a mixed-use, transit-oriented, regional destination.

November 1 - The Baltimore Sun

BLOG POST

<p> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Courier New'">Since arriving in Vancouver, I&#39;ve realized that we are part of a &quot;peer group&quot; of international water cities. Through waterfront design conferences where the same cities seem to get invited time and time again, or through deeper and more interactive collegial opportunities for shared learning such as summits or study trips, these global water cities are taking every opportunity to learn from each other&#39;s successes and failures around water-edge planning and design.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Courier New'"> </span> </p>

October 31 - Brent Toderian

The Bermuda Triangle tops this list of spooky places, but the compendium also includes the Pirate House of Savannah and Colorado's Stanley Hotel, the inspiration for <em>The Shining</em>.

October 31 - MSN

Al Gore did in fact invent the 'electranet', or at least he coined the term to explain the necessity of a new smart grid to transmit electricity from new, green sources like wind and solar. GOOD Magazine reports on the state of the electranet.

October 31 - GOOD Magazine

Joel Kotkin derides urban boosters who have looked to external forces -- such as the mortgage meltdown -- to fuel an "urban renaissance", rather than looking at altering their own economic environments to be more attractive to investors.

October 31 - New Geography

Solar energy initiatives are taking off all across the country, despite some reservations over the impacts of large-scale installations.

October 31 - AlterNet

BLOG POST

<p> The most recent bicycle counts from two of America&#39;s most progressive cities, New York City and Portland, have been made public. The results are impressive as much as they are instructive. </p>

October 31 - Mike Lydon

After speeding construction by using county toll revenues, a 23-mile long, 18-lane freeway has opened in Texas.

October 31 - The Houston Chronicle

A team of management consulting and foreign policy professionals has released a report analyzing which cities of the world are most global in reach, looking at business activity, human capital, and information exchange. New York comes out on top.

October 31 - Business Week