The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

California Urbanists Grappling with Infrastructure Post-Redevelopment

An overview of how urbanists in California have shifted their thinking about repairing urban cores. The article is by Howard Blackson III, an urban designer.

August 2 - UrbDeZine

'Urban Acupuncture' Prescribed for Los Angeles' Streets

Pulling from Jaime Lerner's famed expression of 'Urban Acupuncture,' Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has chosen 15 major thoroughfares to transform into hubs of neighborhood activity as a part of the Great Streets initiative.

August 2 - Los Angeles Times

Weekend Inspiration: Kids Design 'Dream Cars of the Future'

The ideas generated by a global competition that asks children to design the "dream car of the future" are incredibly aspirational in their pragmatism.

August 2 - Fast Co.Exist

Georgia Court Upholds Marsh Protections

Those concerned with protecting Georgia’s 387,000 acres of salt marshes (and the $2 billion they bring to Georgia’s coastal economy) won a major victory this month.

August 2 - SaportaReport

Busy Crossing Street

Crosswalks Not Included for New Silver Line Stations in Tysons Corner

The Silver Line's intended impact on Tysons Corner in Virginia has been described as the "Great Suburban Retrofit." It looks like the retrofit will have to start with crosswalks near the line's new stations.

August 1 - Greater Greater Washington


California Appeals Court Ruling Brings Great News for High Speed Rail

Both sides have been awaiting this ruling, which left Gov. Jerry Brown and the High Speed Rail Authority greatly pleased: the appeals court ruling releases $9.9 billion of 2008 voter-approved bond funding, though other court battles loom.

August 1 - The Fresno Bee

The New Era of 'Cities 3.0': Just Add Infrastructure

Any vision for a "City 3.0"—or an untethered, technology-enabled city—is dependent on next generation infrastructure for Internet, energy, water, and more.

August 1 - Governing


How Los Angeles' Urban Parks Battle Climate Change

An overview of how Los Angeles County’s Department of Parks and Recreation is creating projects that tackle the effects of climate change, by planner Clement Lau.

August 1 - UrbDeZine

Growing Concentrations of Poverty in American Suburbs

Updating the initial "Re-Emergence of Concentrated Poverty" Brookings report, Elizabeth Kneebone shows where concentrations of poverty have taken root during the Great Recession and subsequently slow recovery period.

August 1 - Brookings Institution

Jobs-Rich Cities: Three Potential Frontiers of Economic Development

Unemployment still looms above 2007 levels, and is coupled with the lowest labor force participation in 30 years. Arthur Burris outlines what kinds of strategies cities can adopt to help their local economies.

August 1 - Living Cities

A Buffer is Better

What's the best street design to keep bicyclists safely out of the door zone? A buffered bike lane beats a conventional bike lane or "wide curb lane" according to a recent study published in TRB, based on observations in Chicago and Cambridge, Mass.

August 1 - Chi.Streetsblog

Friday Eye Candy: Social Pool in the Middle of Mojave Desert

Alfredo Barsuglia's latest work, "Social Pool," is located in an undisclosed location in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Visitors only receive keys and GPS coordinates as their directions on the day of their reservation.

August 1 - Los Angeles Times

Senate Passes House Transportation Funding Bill; On to Obama

After the House rejected the Senate's amendments to their Highway Trust Fund extension bill, the Senate passed the bill 81-13 on July 31. Payments to states will continue unchanged through May 2015 when the next hurdle awaits

August 1 - The Hill

Google Self-Driving Car smaller

FEATURE

How Self-Driving Cars Can (and Should) Improve Transit

Comments on the proceedings of the Automated Vehicles Symposium (San Francisco, July 14-18, 2014), where participants addressed the many transportation and land use implications of an automated future.

August 1 - Daniel J. Fagnant

Welcome to North Dakota

Life in 'America's New Gold Rush City'

A dispatch from Williston, North Dakota, the epicenter of boom conditions compared to the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 19th century. Whether the city has benefitted or suffered from the current oil boom, is a matter of perspective.

July 31 - Guardian Cities

Baltimore Past and Future Found on Brewers Hill

Adaptive reuse of historic breweries has revitalized the Brewers Hill neighborhood in Baltimore, which is well-situated with future Red Line access and proximity to the Port of Baltimore and the Canton Crossing shopping district.

July 31 - Global Site Plans

Profiles of New Yorkers Killed by Car Collisions

A new feature on Transportation Nation will highlight the tragedy of traffic fatalities in New York City, by profiling the people who passed and the traffic circumstances that took them.

July 31 - WNYC: Transportation Nation

Mean Streets

Mapping the Happiest Places in the United States (Disneyland Not Included)

Researchers from Harvard and the University of British Columbia used "self-reported life satisfaction data" from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to locate the cities and regions where Americans are most happy (or unhappy).

July 31 - Vox

Voices of the Train: Meet the Announcers Behind America's Transit Systems

Ever wondered who the announcers are for some of the largest transit lines in the United States?

July 31 - Vice Magazine

Massachusetts Voters May Repeal Automatic Gas Tax Indexing

It's been exactly a year since the state approved a 3-cent increase in the gas tax with hard fought legislation that ties future increases to inflation. However, the automatic indexing of the gas tax may be undone by voters on November 4.

July 31 - Tax Foundation

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