The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
How Well Does Light Rail Attract New Transit Riders?
The answer to the question in the headline is “not very.” Thirty years into the initial experiment, however, light rail has not been the game changer it was hoped to be.
Which Cities Have the Most Energy Star Buildings?
More and more energy efficient buildings are coming online, but buildings are still a major source of energy use around the world. To track green building, the EPA recently ranked the cities with the most Energy Star buildings.
Making the Case for the Downtown Athens Master Plan
University of Georgia College of Environment and Design Professor Jack Crowley has taken to the pages of a local publication to explain some of the thinking behind the proposed Downtown Athens Master Plan.
Advocating a New Planning Covenant for Los Angeles
Two well-known Los Angeles civic leaders advocate a new framework for understanding the built environment and landscape of Los Angeles, setting a trajectory for sustainable development.
Caltrans Really Is Becoming More Bike and Walk Friendly
News flash: California has become only the third state to endorse the National Association of City Transportation Officials’ (NACTO) Urban Street Design Guidelines to enable more walk and bike friendly projects such as protected bike lanes.
Rethinking the Value of Parking Lots
To create more active and economically healthy downtowns, cities are seeking development on parking lots.
Visualizing Big Data In Your Own SimCity World
Two former Mozilla engineers strive to merge big data with a 3D model of London and, potentially, other cities.
A Call to Undo the 'Cul-De-Sacking' of St. Louis
A recent nextSTL.com editorial makes an impassioned plea to open the city’s closed streets.
Saving Endangered Modern Homes
The trend toward bigger houses makes the efficient and cool styles of modernism look inadequate to many Americans. A new article by the Architectural Record studies the difficult work of preservation efforts all over the country.
How Do Neighborhoods Become Wealthy?
A new study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland examines a “troubling consistency” of neighborhoods—that is that over the past 30 years, the poorest neighborhoods have stayed that way.
Mapping the U.S. Mexico Border Fence
Journalists at the Center for Investigative Reporting undertook the herculean task of mapping the extent of the secretive and sometimes strange fence between the United States and Mexico.
Street Parking as Car Share Incentive
SFMTA is allowing three car share services: Zip, Get Around and the non-profit CityCar Share to receive designated access to up 450 street and city garage parking spaces in order to promote car sharing as an alternative to auto ownership.
First Look at Alexandria’s Ambitious Waterfront Redesign
Following a Waterfront Small Area Plan adopted in January 2012, Alexandria, Virginia got its first look at proposed designs for the redevelopment of its Old Town waterfront this week.
Impact Investing for Community Development
Lisa Hall gives an overview of impact investing in this enlightening, introduction-type piece. She shares the potential and the new opportunities for community development that are coming out of this emerging field.
A Call to Flâner, for Spatial Justice
The concept of the flâneur was created in the 19th century in response to the encroaching speed and efficiency of the Industrial Age. Can the flâneur now fashion a political response to the Age of the Automobile?
Friday Eye Candy: Revisiting the Sites of Famous Album Covers
For the music aficionados: a recent article in Guardian Cities dug up the Google Street Views of the exact locations of iconic album covers, laying the album cover over the current condition.
Controversies Compared: Rail vs. Bus Rapid Transit
A common perception says that rail is the most politically difficult transit investment. Yet a recent article examines the examples of Nashville and Cincinnati to claim that sometimes, political opposition is just about transit, period.
Explained: the Ever-Increasing Transit Fare
Boston, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Los Angeles—all major cities that have mulled transit fare increases in recent months. Eric Jaffe examines the numbers behind the continuous need for transit agencies to raise the price of a fare.
Questioning Chicago’s Development-Friendly Reputation
Chicago has a reputation for being the most development-friendly city this side of Houston. But Stephen J. Smith cites restrictive zoning outside the Loop as one cause of the city’s anemic housing market.
BLOG POST
More Thoughts On The Realtors' Survey
In addition to revealing public preferences for single-family homes and walkable communities, a recent survey conducted for the National Association of Realtors contains a variety of other small surprises.
Ada County Highway District
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