The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

FEATURE

It's not so easy to measure urban density -- either by sight or calculation -- but thoughtful analysis of development intensity can illustrate useful insights into our cities and regions.

March 8 - Terry Holzheimer, PhD

<p>Homes built on large lots in farming areas are causing concern amongst land conservationists who say the patchwork of housing severely compromises the produictivity of the land.</p>

March 8 - Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

<p>Growing school districts in Minnesota look at ways of subdiving new large high schools to give students that "small school" feeling.</p>

March 8 - Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune

<p>Can soliciting too much public input on civic decisions result in nothing getting done? Seattle's efforts to figure out what to do with the Alaskan Way Viaduct provides a "textbook" example.</p>

March 7 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>A wave of women has moved into urban Bolivia, and brought with them the ambition to make their home amid the slum conditions and crumbling infrastructure.</p>

March 7 - The Washington Post

<p>With the end of a federal subsidy intended to soften the blow to rural forest economies, an entire public library system in Oregon is being shut down.</p>

March 7 - The San Francisco Chronicle

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0pt 0pt 6pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">During my term of office as president of the American Planning Association, I made my theme “telling the planning story.”<span> </span>My point then – and today – is that we need to do a better job of explaining to our many publics what it is that planners do and why it makes a difference.</font></p>

March 7 - Eric Damian Kelly

<p>Time-sensitive commuters would benefit from proposed toll express lanes for D.C. area freeways, which would be built on congested carpool lanes by private companies. Carpools would still use the lanes free of charge.</p>

March 7 - The Washington Post

BLOG POST

<p><img src="/files/u10403/shockney9.jpg" alt="" hspace="10" vspace="6" width="268" height="162" align="left" />The French postmodern philosopher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baudrillard">Jean Baudrillard</a> <a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/06/europe/EU-GEN-France-Obit-Baudrillard.php">died yesterday</a> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0679720200/ref=sib_dp_pt/105-3662130-2734002#reader-link">&quot;or yesterday maybe&quot;</a>). He wrote a lot about simulation and simulacra; if you went to college in the late 1980s like me, you quoted him in your thesis. Lots of stuff about how things in the world were actually perfect simulations of real things, and what that meant for our experiences of them.</p><p>Postmodernists. Weird guys.</p><p>But I remembered—misremembered, actually—a salient bit from his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/America-Jean-Baudrillard/dp/8433925059/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4/105-3662130-2734002?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1173293088&amp;sr=8-4"><em>America</em></a>. Tracked it down in a recent issue of the <a href="http://www.ubishops.ca/baudrillardstudies/vol4_1/levy.htm"><em>International Journal of Jean Baudrillard Studies</em></a>. It&#39;s coming after the break.</p>

March 7 - Anonymous

<p>A federal jury sided with Alameda County, California, in a lawsuit brought by a Christian school whose permit was denied, claiming religious discrimination under the Religious Land User and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000.</p>

March 7 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>The independent Bureau of Governmental Research finds the Unified New Orleans Plan "fails to deliver a cohesive, workable road map for recovery."</p>

March 7 - New Orleans Times Picayune

<p>The desire for slower pace, more security and the ability to carry out transactions from anywhere via the internet are fueling a renewed interest in rural living.</p>

March 7 - ABC News

<p>Last year, one-third of Amtrak trains reached their destinations behind schedule. Making passenger rail competitive with other modes will require massive capital investment.</p>

March 7 - Governing

<p>Proposals to transfer revenue from gasoline taxes are floated as local leaders demand greater funding from the national government.</p>

March 7 - CBC

<p>A proposed mixed use development on one of the city's last open spaces in a sea of housing and retail has Annapolis, Maryland, locals up in arms about the possible negative impacts of the development.</p>

March 7 - The Baltimore Sun

BLOG POST

<p>Our blog taskmaster, Christian, told me that my day for posting was going to be the 6th of every month, and that if I failed...well, let&#39;s just say he pointed me to <a href="http://www.bmezine.com/" target="_blank" title="body mods">this site</a> and told me to be afraid.</p><p>So here I am, with an easy three hours before end-of-day.</p><p>Let&#39;s get started with a couple of blogs you should be reading (other than ours, of course). The action starts after the jump.</p>

March 6 - Anonymous

<p>While some cities in the Middle East are seeking to emulate the emirate's success, its unsustainable pattern of growth make Dubai a poor model for urban development.</p>

March 6 - The Media Line

<p>A soon-to-be released journal article explains how congestion pricing might work in the US: Revenue would be distributed to cities through which the freeways pass.</p>

March 6 - Transport Policy Journal

BLOG POST

<p>After reading through dozens of long range transportation plans, I have to wonder if the planning profession is serious about improving mobility. By mobility, I mean improving the ability, speed, and efficiency of getting from point A to point B. </p>

March 6 - Samuel Staley

<p>A team of planners and architects working to revive the city's riverfront recommend mimicking Boston's infamous Big Dig project to tame the I-95 freeway's impact.</p>

March 6 - The Philadelphia Inquirer