The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The newly opened Bell Street Park in Seattle offers the kind of "social friction" Leigh Gallagher called for in Friday's NYT with "planters, perches ... and the simplest but most innovative feature of all, a level plane between sidewalk and street."

March 2 - Publicola

FEATURE

After a recent scholarly article raising questions about the definition of conservation subdivisions, Randall Arendt, author of "Conservation Design for Subdivisions" and "Growing Greener," wrote the following response.

March 2 - Randall Arendt

The Planning Commission of the Alaskan capital city recently approved a transit plan that expands service and increases pedestrian access. As next steps, city leaders are talking about providing incentives for development along the transit routes.

March 2 - Juneau Empire

Many filmmakers are concerned with set making, but not architecture. Steve McQueen, Best Director nominee for 12 Years a Slave (which is also nominated for Best Picture) has made a career of examining the role of architecture in building narrative.

March 2 - Los Angeles Times

Twenty years after the movie Speed, which took place on the Big Blue Bus, Metro rail system, and other transit facilities, Keanu Reeves and crew might not recognize L.A.'s current transit system. L.A. County planner Clement Lau surveys the changes.

March 2 - UrbDeZine.com

BLOG POST

Discussing some of the most pro-urban movies ever made.

March 1 - Michael Lewyn

Turns out all those protests against the ubiquitous Google (and other tech) luxury buses that often crowd out S.F. Muni (public) buses have contributed to a show of good will to public transit in the form of a $6.8 million gift to fund youth passes.

March 1 - San Francisco Chronicle

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin based his entire State of the State speech this year on the state’s “full-blown heroin crisis.” The crisis has obvious impacts on neighborhoods, but did land use policy contribute to the problem?

March 1 - The New York Times

In the Netherlands, a radical idea is being tested: Self-contained "villages" where people with dementia shop, cook, and live together—safely.

March 1 - Gizmodo

Are rideshare companies like Uber here to stay? The answer likely hinges on a series of legal battles taking place nationwide.

March 1 - Grist

When freeways are dismantled, economic, and social benefits often follow. A mid-20th Century mechanistic view fails to understand such outcomes.

March 1 - Better! Cities & Towns

The Oscars are this weekend, so its an appropriate time to turn to movie magic as a powerful force for how American’s perceive environments—from rural to urban and everything between.

February 28 - Next City

The proposed Ashland Bus Rapid Transit line in Chicago, the latest effort in an ambitious multi-modal transportation investment plan by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former Chicago DOT Commissioner Gabe Klein, is a game changer for an already unique city.

February 28 - The Atlantic Cities

The City Block examines the ongoing zoning code update in Washington D.C. relative to a zoning code tradition of maintaining restrictions on growth.

February 28 - City Block

A pair of large winter storms hit California this week, providing a sorely needed, if incremental, reprieve from an ongoing and historic drought. A new twitter account, @LosAngelesRain has personified that rarest of commodities, rain in Los Angeles.

February 28 - KPCC

Dallas is mulling changes to the process by which neighborhoods can seek and obtain conservation district status. As city staff considers the changes, one former councilwoman for the city asks, “if it ain’t broke…”

February 28 - Lakewood/East Dallas Advocate

A recent article surveys a few examples of residents in cities around the country employing tactical urbanism. As tactical urbanism has been adopted in different ways in different cities, so to have the reactions of city leaders varied.

February 28 - Governing

Earlier in February, the Oregon Court of Appeals threw out a 50-year growth plan approved in 2010 for Metro and Portland area counties. Oregon legislators reacted with House Bill 4078, which has broad support.

February 28 - The Oregonian

Not all gentrification is alike. New research show just how different gentrification is in St. Louis as compared to Seattle or San Francisco.

February 28 - Legacy Cities

The 495 Express Lanes opened in Virginia in November 2012 and have yet to meet ridership projections. That might not be a problem when built by the public sector, but the road is a $1.4 billion investment by the Australian firm Transurban.

February 28 - WAMU