The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
FEATURE
When Financial Bridges Fail
Martin H. Krieger compares the lack of oversight involved in today's financial crisis with the transparency and responsibility involved in making bridges.
Are Libertarians Socially Conservative on Land Use?
Bill Fulton thinks so, calling them to task for speaking out against density in Orange County when, he says, the market demand is evident.
Amtrak Reauthorization & Safety Bill Signed
Two weeks after Congress passed HR 2095, Bush signed this bill to double Amtrak funding and mandate safety technology to prevent Metrolink-like crashes. It may be a precursor to greatly expanded transit spending in the next administration.
Report from the Congress For European Urbanism
Faith Cable reports on the CEU's 3rd annual conference, held in Oslo, Norway, which addressed cities and their ability to address climate change through urban design.
New Urbanism Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry
New Urban News reports that even as housing costs plummet and construction is halted on single-family homes across the country, traditional neighborhood developments and TODs are thriving.
Senegal Builds New Airport, Ignores Dakar's Slums
Patrick Smith believes that Senegal's ambitious new airport is not only unnecessary, but in light of the country's massive poverty and environmental problems, actually "obscene."
Want Smart Growth? Break Out the Carrots and Sticks
To paraphrase B.F. Skinner, if you want positive behavior, either reward it in return, or remove something unpleasant in response; to paraphrase R. Steuteville's commentary, if we want a green economy, we need to do the same thing with development.
Which Cities Stretch Dollars The Farthest?
Texas cities top a ranking by Forbes of where your dollar goes the farthest. Affordable housing and promising job prospects made a big difference.
Tesla Laying Off Employees and Delaying All-Electric Sedan
Electric car start-up in Silicon Valley said Wednesday that it would lay off employees and delay production of its second car, the Model S, until 2011.
Camping in Public Parks Allowed in British Columbia
A supreme court judge in British Columbia has ruled that homeless people can legally camp on public property such as parks.
Chilling in Honolulu
Honolulu is moving ahead with an ambitious plan to use deep seawater as a natural air conditioning for downtown buildings. The system should be in place for up to 40 clients by 2010.
Friday Funny: Divorcing Couple Cut House in Two
40 years of marriage was apparently too many, as a man in Cambodia cut his home in two, moving his half to his parents' property.
Best Cities To Live in During a Recession
Business Week looks for the most recession-proof cities, using as their main criteria an abundance of jobs in stable industries like government, health care, and education.
Charleston Fills In
As the city pulls more and more people from the suburbs back to the center, planners and developers in Charleston are warming up to the idea of infill development.
HOT & Green Proposal For Illinois Tollway
What do you get when you designate a carpool lane on a toll road for hybrids and carpoolers? A 'green' lane, say Illinois planners. However, they still pay the toll. Now add a "HOT lane overlay" to it - solo drivers can use it for a 'premium'.
Humanizing Spaces
That's how landscape architect Edward L. Daugherty sees his job. “I think if there is a thread in my work, it’s to help people use the space that is available,” he says in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as a retrospective of his work opens.
Zip Line Your Way Across Town
Zip line tours- where you slide down a wire hanging from a lanyard- are growing in popularity in tourist spots like the canopies of rainforests. BLDBLOG proposes an urban application.
BLOG POST
Crises Come And Go, But Smart Policies Live on
<p> <span style="font-size: 12pt"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">A recent report that I coauthored, "</span><a href="http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/research/reports/357.pdf"><span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Times New Roman">Managing Transport Challenges When Oil Prices Rise</span></a><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">" provides practical policy guidance on how to manage the risks of rising oil prices by increasing transport system efficiency. People with short attention spans might think that this report is already outdated, since global financial uncertainty has replaced rising fuel prices as the crisis-of-the-month. Leading businesses are bankrupt, employees are frightened, consumers are cautious, and fuel prices plummeting. </span></span> </p>
Dyson Says Planning is 'A Blight on Progress'
James Dyson, the engineer who appears in vacuum cleaner ads in the States, rails against planners in Bath, England who he claims thwarted the engineering school he was attempting to found there.
ARB Climate Change Plan Criticized By Both Sides
The CA Air Resources Board unveiled its final ‘scoping plan’ to meet the climate change targets set in the landmark 2006 law, AB 32. Business groups condemned it for its costs while land use planners criticized it for not doing more to curb sprawl.
City of Moorpark
City of Tustin
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
