Infrastructure

Dave Sotero reflects on the "mammoth undertaking" necessary to build L.A.'s modern subway system. He begins with the completion of the first phase of the Metro Red Line 20 years ago, and ends with a look at its promising future.

February 4, 2013 - The Source (Metro)

Lamenting the lack of a single big, transformative urban idea during President Obama's first term, Richard Florida urges the president to establish a new cabinet-level Department of Cities to build a "lasting urban legacy."

February 4, 2013 - New York Daily News

Baltimore has a lot of bold ideas for changing the face of the city. While we wait for them to happen, why not implement some simple solutions for making the city more livable, proposes Mark R. Brown, AICP.

February 2, 2013 - Car Free Baltimore

While the housing market showed signs of improvement last year, economists are now confident that a recovery is underway. Housing currently adds 13 percent to the nation's economic growth, but is this a good thing?

February 1, 2013 - Urban Land Institute

Although leaders in the Twin Cities seem to agree on the need to improve the appeal of city streets for those on foot, turning those words into actions seems difficult. Bill Lindeke offers three easy solutions that don't involve touching the street.

February 1, 2013 - Streets MN

Our friends at Streetsblog are hunting for the worst intersection in America. Help them decide from among a host of qualified entries.

February 1, 2013 - DC.Streetsblog

Kaid Benfield spotlights an innovative federal program that is "not very well known but deserves to be." The "Greening America’s Capitals" program aims to make America's state capitals showpieces for green infrastructure and green building practices.

January 30, 2013 - NRDC Switchboard

Patrick Kennedy proposes an elegant and cost-effective way to deal with Dallas's aging elevated freeway and the city's "massive pent-up demand for walkable urban housing" - tear the sucker down.

January 30, 2013 - D Magazine

CA Gov. Jerry Brown stated he had big plans in his State of the State speech on Jan 24. Thanks to temporary tax increases under Prop 30 and spending cuts, the budget is finally balanced. Yet he also called for 'fiscal constraint' - contradictory?

January 29, 2013 - Calbuzz

From a giant dam across the Golden Gate to a dozen "ventilated levees," the options proposed for protecting San Francisco Bay from rising seas are neither cheap nor subtle. But with sea level rise "around the corner," hard choices must be made.

January 28, 2013 - San Francisco Chronicle

As Barack Obama takes the oath of office for his second term, Places editor Nancy Levinson argues for an intensified political agenda for architects and urban designers.

January 27, 2013 - Places Journal

Not usually regarded for their outside the box thinking, transportation engineers have nevertheless come up with some radical ideas for improving the flow of traffic and reducing the potential for collisions at busy intersections.

January 27, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

Roberta Brandes Gratz examines the many differences, and few similarities, between the two most devastating urban storms of recent memory. Among the most elemental differences: one devastated neighborhoods, one a city; one was man-made, one natural.

January 25, 2013 - Citiwire

Jonathan Watts reports on the transformation of the Vidigal favela in Rio de Janeiro. With drug gangs kicked out, wealthy buyers have moved in, and rental prices have surged. But has the neighborhood changed for the better?

January 25, 2013 - The Guardian

A recent survey gives statistical heft to what many already believe - that despite the rhetorical exuberance of anti-bicycle and anti-transit types, the supposed "war on cars" is just a tired trope that is "wearing a bit thin."

January 24, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

A draft long-range Strategic Plan for Washington D.C.'s Metro aims to adapt one of the nation's busiest transit systems to the needs of a growing region, at a cost of $26 billion.

January 24, 2013 - The Washington Post

"Canada is getting hotter faster than ever before and at a faster rate than almost any other country," reports Anna Mehler Paperny, and the country's infrastructure, public health, and economy are vulnerable to unforeseen impacts.

January 24, 2013 - The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

Advocates of inclusionary zoning have something to smile about. A new report from the Rand Corporation confirms that the housing produced by these zoning policies does in fact create or preserve affordable housing in areas of low poverty.

January 24, 2013 - Shelterforce Online

Although Britain's sporting successes make it out to be a nation of cyclists, only 2.2% of Britons use a bike as their main mode of transportation. Peter Walker looks at how a pioneering parliamentary inquiry hopes to get more people on bikes.

January 23, 2013 - The Guardian

Last week saw the second major groundbreaking on the west side of midtown Manhattan in the last two months, as the $4.5 billion "Manhattan West" project’s first phase officially began.

January 23, 2013 - A/N Blog