The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The Pleistocene Dream?

<p>Owning a home may appeal to primitive happiness-seeking instincts, but the resulting suburban isolation and solitary commutes many people face may be making us profoundly unhappy, writes Charles Montgomery.</p>

December 18 - The Walrus

Wind Power Goes Small Scale

<p>A wind turbine installed in one weekend is saving homeowners about 80% on their electricity bills.</p>

December 18 - The New York Times

Buying Foreclosed Homes A Struggle Unless Occupants Are Booted

<p>Buyers looking to snatch up renter-occupied foreclosed homes and apartment buildings are meeting opposition from mortgage companies who want all tenants out before a sale. This leaves many buyers unsatisfied and many renters feeling insecure.</p>

December 18 - The Boston Globe

Tech Startups Rebuild Rural Areas

<p>High-tech businesses and industries are popping up in more and more rural towns, bringing jobs and boosting the economies of these small areas.</p>

December 18 - The Christian Science Monitor

BLOG POST

The Myth of the Urban Core

<p><font size="3"><u><span style="font-family: Arial">Question</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial">: What do Keybank Tower in Cleveland, the Kettering Tower in Dayton, and One Seagate in Toledo have in common? </span></font></p><p><font size="3"><u><span style="font-family: Arial">Answer</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial">: They are their respective city’s tallest buildings, and they were built <em>after</em> their city’s population peaked.</span></font></p>

December 18 - Samuel Staley


Reducing The Environmental Footprint Of Death

<p>When people die, they can still create negative impacts on the environment. Green burials are becoming a popular way to address this environmental concern.</p>

December 18 - NPR

The Rise of The 'Green Collar' Job

<p>By creating "green collar" jobs, cities across the country are creating jobs and helping the environment.</p>

December 18 - USA Today


New York: The New American Teardown Capital

<p>Surpassing metropolitan Chicago, metro New York now hosts the highest amount of teardowns in the country.</p>

December 18 - The New York Times

Long Beach's YouTube Videos Persuade Residents to Conserve Water

<p>The city of Long Beach, California has initiated a water conservation campaign, including YouTube videos. As a result, residential water use rates have hit record lows.</p>

December 18 - The Los Angeles Times

Experts Weigh In On Urbanization

<p>The <em>Freakonomics</em> blog at <em>The New York Times</em> recently put together a panel of experts and asked them to outline the implications of our increasingly urban world.</p>

December 17 - The New York Times

The Myth Of Resource Sustainability

<p>John Brätland, senior economist with the U.S. Department of the Interior, offers his observations on how economists have let the myth of resource exhaustion persist from the nineteenth century to the present, and why it is misguided.</p>

December 17 - The Independent Institute

Do Starchitects' Egos Get in the Way of Good Design?

<p>One critic claims that "starchitects" are more interested in flash than function. He recommends these architects work with mainstream developers to have a more positive impact on average people.</p>

December 17 - The New York Times

Anaheim Plans To Remake Its Sports District Into Highrise Urban Village

<p>Anaheim (Orange County, CA) has big plans: 20,000 urban infill homes planned for their sports district. While the zoning change passed the council on a 4-1 vote, developers will wait for the housing market to recover.</p>

December 17 - The Los Angeles Times

The Determining Factor of Walkable Places

<p>Almost all of the towns with high percentages of walking commuters are centered around an institution, like a university or military academy, where many are housed very close to their classes or jobs.</p>

December 17 - Streetsblog

Architecture And The City: A Changing Relationship

<p>On the 10th anniversary of Getty Center art museum in Los Angeles, architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne examines how architecture and its relationship with the city have changed over the past decade.</p>

December 17 - Abhijeet Chavan

Pennsylvania Toll Road Plan Hits Wall

<p>Plans to convert a 311-mile section of Pennsylvania's Interstate 80 have been dealt a severe setback by the federal government, which recently returned the state's application.</p>

December 17 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

A Deadly Catch

<p>China is the world's fish capital, but extreme pollution has made much of its fishing waters and catches toxic.</p>

December 17 - The New York Times

FEATURE

How Smart Growth Fits Into Small Towns

December 17 - Anna Haines, Mary Edwards

Transit Fares Rise In D.C.

<p>Transit fares were recently increased for the Washington D.C. Metro transit system. The fare hike is the largest increase in the agency's history.</p>

December 17 - The Washington Post

Land of the Living, Dead

<p><em>Vice Magazine</em> presents this photo essay on a cemetery in Manila that is heavily populated with both the living and the dead. More than 10,000 families make this graveyard their home.</p>

December 17 - Vice Magazine

Post News

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.

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.