The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Living Cities set out to lend money to community development financial institutions in five distressed cities but were met with a mountain of challenges. Here are the lessons learned from addressing the lack of "capital absorption capacity."

May 14 - Shelterforce Magazine

The Minneapolis City Council is considering steps that would increase the amount of its waste stream that gets recycled.

May 14 - Minneapolis Star Tribune

New Haven recently launched a campaign called RE: New Haven in the hopes of increasing the city’s homeownership rate. Will the incentive-backed, multimedia approach work in increasing residents' stake in the community?

May 14 - Next City

Denver's Union Station Bus Terminal opened over the weekend, the latest step in its ongoing transformation into a hub of intermodal activity as well as a bridge between the contemporary and the historic.

May 14 - Denver Business Journal

An influx of residential and creative commercial space is transforming Downtown New Orleans. According to a technical assistance panel by the Urban Land Institute Louisiana, the trends represent a once in a lifetime opportunity to improve open space.

May 14 - The Times-Picayune

Many U.S. cities are seeing an increase in bicycle commuters, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released last week. Of all commute modes, biking increased the most from 2000 to 2012. Walking, however, held steady.

May 14 - U.S. Census Bureau

The bill to reauthorize the current surface transportation law, "Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century", a.k.a. MAP-21, was released on Monday and will be "marked up" on Thursday. Spending is kept at current levels of $50 billion a year.

May 13 - Bloomberg News

The effort to protect bikers from cars making illegal maneuvers continues in Washington D.C. on Pennsylvania Avenue. Because the street holds regular inauguration parades, planners can make a limited number of permanent changes.

May 13 - Greater Greater Washington

With six new Green Line stations coming to Somerville, Massachusetts in the next few years, planners and political leaders are trying to find the right balance between transit oriented redevelopment and its more expensive consequences.

May 13 - Atlantic Cities

The Philadelphia City Council has been busy, proposing multiple bills to rezone a few neighborhoods and parcels around the city. Many of the proposed changes follow the guidance on the city's Philadelphia2035.

May 13 - PlanPhilly

Cheap construction materials, crowdfunding, and volunteer construction crews have produced villages of tiny homes as a place for the homeless to find shelter in every corner of the United States. What does it take for such homes to work?

May 13 - Reuters via Chicago Tribune

With the national Promise Zone grant initiative rolling out in Los Angeles, the Youth Policy Institute aims to deploy funds strategically in targeted areas that struggle with poverty.

May 13 - The Planning Report

Last Thursday, House and Senate leaders announced agreement on an $8.2 billion waterways infrastructure bill, and if they have their way, it won't be their last major agreement. On Monday, a successor highway bill (to MAP-21) will be released.

May 13 - The Hill

West Palm Beach, Florida is undertaking a walkability study of its downtown; wide streets and a confusing mix of jurisdictions provide substantial challenges to the effort.

May 13 - The Palm Beach Post

A report from the Long Island Index explores the economic impact of a new Third Track on the Long Island Rail Road.

May 13 - Long Island Press

For those who thought that glacial melting due to climate change mainly affected Greenland and mountain glaciers like in the Himalayas, think again. A new NASA/UC Irvine study reports that melting of West Antarctica's glaciers "appears unstoppable".

May 13 - Vox

C.W. Nevius examines the consequences of Proposition B—on the ballot in San Francisco in June.

May 12 - SFGate

In recovery mode following the most recent housing crisis—two Phoenix-area master-planned communities are continuing to grow.

May 12 - AZ Central

A local Tea Party type is making a passionate pitch for what his group considers Constitutional guarantees against government planning, and I get this deju vu tug. I’ve been here before. I’VE BEEN THIS BEFORE.

May 12 - PlaceShakers

Houston has proposed a large-scale overhaul of the Metro bus system. Based primarily on a high-frequency grid, the proposed plan would make sweeping changes to routes, nomenclature, and more. The plan will be a "must watch" for planners.

May 12 - Houston Chronicle