The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Drone

Internet of Things Brings More Surveillance and Vulnerabilities to Cities

Too often, smart city technology is described as an innocuous tool, but Adam Greenfield argues the technology acquiring this data will be used to distribute city resources, an inherently political act.

June 10 - The Guardian

San Francisco

California Progress Report: GDP Increases While GHGs Fall

California is demonstrating that improving the economy and the environment go hand in hand. A new inventory report from the state's Air Resources Board notes changes in gross domestic product, population, and greenhouse gas emissions since 2000.

June 10 - California Air Resources Board

Chicago

Cook County Property Taxes Cheat the Poor

In Cook County, which contains the city of Chicago and some of its suburbs, property values have been manipulated to disguise the value of homes, helping the rich at the expense of the poor (particularly poor minorities).

June 10 - The Chicago Tribune

New Jersey

Changes to Tax Credit Criteria Are Breaking Up Concentrated Poverty in New Jersey

Recent news reports have highlighted the low number of federally-funded affordable housing projects that are built in high-opportunity areas, but an examination has found that strategic allocation changes are having a beneficial effect in New Jersey.

June 10 - Shelterforce/Rooflines

Beijing, China

A New Government Planned Mega-City Shapes Up Next to Beijing

Planners for the Xiong’an New Area hope to cure the ills of "megacity disease"

June 10 - Foreign Policy


Prospect Park Bike Lane

Safety Should Be Just Half the Goal of Vision Zero

A Streetsblog NYC article argues that New York misses an opportunity to make itself more vibrant and accessible by focusing only on safety and not also on active transit infrastructure.

June 9 - StreetsBlog NYC

Austin

Defining Key Zoning Code Terms for the Masses

What it means when planners use their words.

June 9 - The Austin Chronicle


Mount Airy Casino Resort in Pocono, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania House Goes All-In on Big Gambling Expansion

A bill that would greatly expand legalized gambling to new locations around the state flew through the Pennsylvania House of Representatives this week.

June 9 - NewsWorks

Millennial Crowd

Hey, Young People! Stay in Your Parents’ House Forever!

A new voice in the unending chorus of complaints about Millennials, the Wall Street Journal reports that Millennials should be blamed for wanting to live in places that are popular to live in, and implies they should spend more time driving.

June 9 - The Wall Street Journal

Suburban Seattle

Seattle's Cup Runneth Over: Suburb Launches Long-Range Transit Plan to Handle Growth

The city of Everett is expecting a 60 percent jump in population by 2035, most of which will be focused in its city center. All of those people will also need an efficient and useful citywide transit system.

June 9 - The Urbanist

Subway Library

Meet New York's New 'Subway Library'

Public transit has always been a good place to catch up on some pleasure reading, but now the New York MTA and the New York Public Library have taken their synergy to new levels.

June 9 - The Architect's Newspaper

L Train

Chicago 'L' Train Celebrates 125th Birthday

The 'L' train has survived calls to be disbanded and a tumultuous century and a quarter to become a, sometimes unreliable, city icon.

June 9 - Chicago Tribune

Orchard Station RTD Light Rail

Denver Suburb Rejects TOD at Light Rail Station in Special Election

Tuesday's mail-in vote by residents of Greenwood Village to overwhelmingly reject a city-council approved plan to allow mixed-use development at a light rail station is a major setback for smart growth proponents.

June 9 - The Denver Post

Norba, ancient roman town in Lazio, Italy

Friday Eye Candy: Ancient Rome's Maps, Reimagined as a Transit System

There are surprisingly few maps of ancient Roman roads, and many fewer maps of ancient Roman roads that resemble big-city subway maps. An intrepid student has improved upon that situation, however.

June 9 - CityLab

New York City

BLOG POST

What's the Matter With the Upper East Side?

In a free market, the richest neighborhoods would ordinarily be the most popular. But some well-off urban neighborhoods are actually losing population. Why?

June 9 - Michael Lewyn

Security cameras on a building

When Surveillance Cameras Pay the Cost of New Street Lamps

Are the energy and money savings from modern street lamps worth the proliferation of surveillance technology around the city? San Jose, California is considering just such a quandary.

June 8 - The Mercury News

Nightime view of San Diego skyline

San Diego Activists Form Coalition to Respond to Homelessness, Housing Crisis

A diverse coalition of social justice, labor, and environmental groups have come together under the name Build Better San Diego to troubleshoot and advocate for affordable housing, writes affordable housing developer and advocate Murtaza Baxamusa.

June 8 - UrbDeZine

Miami Mall

Top 5 Retail Shopping Center Trends

As the face of retail continues to evolve, tremendous opportunity exists for out-of-the-box concepts and creative retail strategies.

June 8 - Modern Cities

NYC Subway Construction

Why U.S. Infrastructure Is Too Expensive: Localities Have Too Little Control

Charles Marohn responds to Noah Smith's article asking why American Infrastructure is so expensive and delivers a plan to attack the problem.

June 8 - Strong Towns

Melting Ice

Green Building Advocates Want Pennsylvania to 'Unfreeze' the State's Energy Codes

Two icehouses have arrived in Harrisburg on a mission from the Central Pennsylvania chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council.

June 8 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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Senior Manager Operations, Urban Planning

New York City School Construction Authority

Building Inspector

Village of Glen Ellyn

Manager of Model Development

Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO

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