The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Well-Designed Prison, Well-Behaved Prisoners
A prison design in Austria that emphasizes inmate comfort and dignity raises questions about the role architecture and design plays in preventing or encouraging more crime.
Neighbors Team Up To Build Community Garden
Residents in an Oxnard neighborhood install a community garden which will provide them with fruits and vegetables.
Katrina Victims May Face Eviction
Thousands of families who are still living in temporary trailers after Hurricane Katrina face uncertainty in their housing this summer.
Say Goodbye to Rest Stops
The state-supported rest stop, an American institution since 1956, is dying off. The rise of roadside retail and declining government coffers are to blame, says GOOD Magazine.
More Americans Have Green Jobs
Wired Science reports that there are now 770,000 green jobs among 62,800 businesses in the U.S., which makes up 3.7 percent of the overall job market.
How Rail Spurred A Makeover In Tysons Corner
Tysons Corner is hoping to go from a 9-to-5 work farm to a 24-hour city.
Do They Really Need Money?
A debate over the MBTA fare hike will begin soon in earnest, focusing on whether the MBTA needs money.
Riding the Rails to CNU
A contingent of California New Urbanists arranged a special trip on Amtrak's California Zephyr in two vintage railcars to the Congress for New Urbanism in Denver. High-level discussion ensued.
BLOG POST
Comparing Celebrations in Championship Cities
<p> Here in Los Angeles, the local professional basketball team just won its league's national championship. When I was in Barcelona a few weeks back, the local soccer team won a major international championship. These were two days for the cities to celebrate their home teams' triumphs, but the differences in how they celebrated says a lot about these cities and their civic cultures.<br /> <br />
How Difficult is Consensus?
The Los Angeles City Planning Commission delayed a vote on several proposed amendments to the city's cultural heritage ordinance because of a lack of consensus among the speakers.
The Challenge of Balancing Cars and People
Ft. Worth transportation planner Don Koski talks about the challenges and rewards of being a transportation planner in Ft. Worth, Texas.
With New Rail Expansions, TOD Is On The Rise
An overview in the New York Times of the success of transit-oriented development around new rail lines. TOD succeeds even in a poor housing market, experts say.
The Transformation of Harlem
Photographer Camilo Jose Vergara's pictures document Harlem's journey from a "rundown version of Paris" in the 1970s to the "global Harlem" of luxury condos and corporate franchises [includes slideshow].
FEATURE
Reinventing America's Cities: Discovering Opportunities by Challenging Biases
Dr. Aseem Inam takes writers on urbanism and architecture to task for spreading stereotypes about "third world cities", particularly when used to generalize about urban form.
Transit's Big Dig Begins In Jersey
New Jersey Transit has broken ground on what may be the nation's most costly transit project: a commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson River to a new Penn Station Expansion that, to the chagrin of transit advocates, will not connect to Penn Station.
Rising Costs of Farmland Affecting Suburban Growth
As farmland prices skyrocketed, so did the cost of growing a suburb.
Developers Could Skirt Approval Process
DuPage County may let developers bypass the County Board for project approval if they develop low- to moderate-income housing projects.
BLOG POST
Top Five Concerns About New Bike Lanes In Our Community
<p> I live in Hoboken, New Jersey. It is a small (~50k residents), very densely populated city (fourth in the country), with high pedestrian volumes and some hairy traffic issues in certain areas. With heavy rail, light rail, subway, bus, ferry, taxi, bicycle, pedestrian, and para-transit all converging at Hoboken Terminal, it is also home to perhaps the richest intermodal transportation facility in the world (in terms of modes). It is often characterized as feeling European, or like Brooklyn, take your pick. Recently, we have been successful in implementing a nascent bicycle plan that includes bike lanes striped along the length of two north/south avenues in the heart of the city. Cross streets are next with “sharrows" since these streets are too narrow for exclusive
California Drying Up
Climate models show that California -- the source of one third of America's food supply -- is running out of its reliable water supply.
Toughest Recyclers In the West (Or Anywhere)?
The city of San Francisco approves a plan to require composting and recycling citywide by this fall, with fines kicking in within two years.
One Hundred Miles
County of Mendocino
planning NEXT
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Montrose County
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
