The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Seattle Area Voters Resoundingly Reject Transit Initiative

With 55 per cent of the vote, King County voters on April 22 opposed increasing their sales tax by one-tenth of one per cent and increasing an annual auto registration fee by $60. 72 Metro Transit bus routes will be eliminated.

April 24 - Q13 Fox News

Transportation Considerations for Aging Populations

An article on PlannersWeb details the considerations relevant to the needs of people over 65, who are growing more multi-modal and car-independent every year.

April 24 - PlannersWeb

Complete Street Vancouver

What Millennials Want: A Multi-Modal City

A recent study finds evidence of an overwhelming desire by Millennials to live multi-modal, car-lite lifestyles. They're even prepared to move to find what they want.

April 24 - Transportation for America

Busy Crossing Street

Big Data’s Victory Over Anonymity

A writer laments the advances made by data collection in cities—once a location where people could maintain or seek anonymity.

April 23 - New York Times

Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Candid Take on the Foreclosure Crisis

The Boston Globe provides an excerpt from the new book by Senator Elizabeth Warren, wherein she recounts her troubled reaction to a conversation with then Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

April 23 - The Boston Globe


'A Plan for a Healthy Los Angeles' Elevates Public Health Among Planning Priorities

Available for public comment until May 13, Los Angeles is considering a new Health and Wellness Element for its General Plan, called “A Plan for a Healthy Los Angeles.” It’s an ambitious document for a large and diverse city.

April 23 - KCET

Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Will the Neil deGrasse Tyson of Planning Please Stand Up?

Do you have to be a “plannerd” to think planning is cool? Is there a planner alive who can bridge the divide between the mysteries of planning and general public interest? One writer dares to hope.

April 23 - Medium


New York City's Most Serious Pollution Continues to Plague its Residents

Imagine living high above Manhattan but unable to open your windows because of soot-laden smoke from surrounding buildings. Toxic emissions from burning dirty heating oil continues despite a 2011 law requiring conversion to a cleaner fuel.

April 23 - The New York Times - N.Y. / Region

River Map Better

Meet the Creek that Splits the United States in Half

Move over Panama Canal, there’s another waterway that connects one side of the continent to the other. These waters part ways in Wyoming.

April 23 - Sploid

The Who, What, Where, Why and How of Washington, D.C.'s Capital Bikeshare

Few transportation projects have transformed D.C. as thoroughly as Capital Bikeshare. From humble beginnings in 2010 with fewer than 50 stations, there are now over three hundred stations and 2500 bikes spread across the city.

April 23 - Elevation DC

How will the Physical Urban Environment be Affected by Obamacare?

Los Angeles County planner Clement Lau discusses what the Affordable Care Act means for hospital construction, design, and expansion.

April 23 - UrbDeZine

A Brief History of Your Neighborhood

While some contend that our communities are sculpted by an unfettered free market, there are a variety of programs and policies that underwrite the costs of poorly planned development. "A Brief History of Your Neighborhood" examines a few.

April 23 - Community Builders

Commute

Which Cities Get to Work Early (or Late)?

According to new analysis by Nate Silver, New York City might be more aptly described as the city that sleeps in.

April 23 - Five Thirty Eight

Dallas Working to Streamline Approval Process for Sidewalk Cafés

A City Council committee got its first look at a proposed revision of the streetscape licensing process by which restaurants and cafés can acquire sidewalk seating. Councilmembers sent the plan back the drawing board again.

April 22 - Dallas Observer

A Primer on Zoning in Japan

An intrepid blogger digs into the differences between Japanese zoning regulations and those here in the United States.

April 22 - Urban Kchoze

Golden State Warriors Drop Pier 30-32 Arena Plans

In what is surely a victory for opponents of waterfront development along the Embarcadero corridor in San Francisco, the Golden State Warriors have purchased a new site farther south, near AT&T Park and the UCSF Mission Bay campus, for a new arena.

April 22 - SF Weekly

Seattle’s Capitol Hill Light Rail Attracting TOD Attention

Sound Transit released a request for qualifications to build a 100,000-square-foot mixed-use TOD at the forthcoming Capitol Hill light rail station. Fourteen interested developers responded.

April 22 - Capitol Hill Seattle Blog

Will Tampa Bay Solve its Transit Equation?

Robert Trigaux wonders if the Tampa Bay metro area will be wake up to the country’s changing demands of transportation and end “the parochial arm wrestling over what kind (if any) of mass transit lies in its future.”

April 22 - Tampa Bay Times

Alley Scene

Alleyways as Pathways to Urban Revitalization

From D.C. to Seattle, alleys are being reinvented as people-friendly spaces. Often perceived as dirty and dangerous, alleys are moving beyond garbage and garages to become havens for pedestrians, public art, and small business.

April 22 - Elevation DC

Keystone Plan B: Ship Oil Sands to California by Rail

A California legislator warns that if the Keystone XL pipeline is rejected, expect tar sands to be transported by rail to Calif. refineries and ports. Increasing oil production would reduce oil imports, but a fracking moratorium bill has advanced.

April 22 - Engineering News Record

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