The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
How Utah Could End Homelessness by 2015
By implementing a rational, structured policy of providing free apartments for the homeless, the state of Utah has greatly reduced its homeless population and is on pace to eradicate it completely by 2015.
Imagining Silicon Valley Parking Lots as Corporate Housing
A series of renderings asks the question: "What might it look like if tech campuses replaced their parking lots and provided all the necessary housing on-site?"
Study: New Mexico MainStreet Achieves Dramatic Success
A new study shows evidence of dramatic positive impacts for the New Mexico MainStreet program, a state program working in coordination with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
New Study Changes the Narrative on Slums
Researchers are building a more complete archive of life in slums, home to one-third of the urban population of developing countries. A new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) rejects assumptions about the benefits of slums.
Critiquing the 'Green' Credentials of the Sochi Olympics
Back in 2009, Olympic officials were claiming that the Sochi Winter Games would be the "greenest" games ever. But besides a large carbon offset, the Olympics' sustainability efforts have been underwhelming.
How Does A Propane Shortage Strike Amidst A Production Boom?
Propane prices in some parts of the midwest and south had tripled; governors have demanded investigations into price gouging, and shelters have opened for those unable to afford the steep prices increases, yet production increased 15% from last year.
De Blasio Selects Planning Director
Mayor Bill de Blasio has selected Carl Weisbrod, the co-chairman of his transition team and a veteran New York City real estate executive to be the Chair of the City Planning Commission, aka Planning Director. Housing affordablity will be a priority.
BLOG POST
Why Definitions Are Less Important than Discussions
To be pedantic, or to participate, is the question.
Panel Opposes Delisting Grey Wolves
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to take the grey wolf off the Endangered Species list across most of the continental U.S. but a key panel determined their decision was based on questionable science that dealt with species identification.
What you missed, or not, at the 2014 Land Use Law & Planning Conference
Weren't able to make it to this year's UCLA Extension Land Use Law & Planning Conference? No Problem! Los Angeles County Planner Dr. Clement Lau gives a quick recap . . . but mostly on the planning side of the program.
San Francisco Planners Pitch Freeway Removal
Planners in the city of San Francisco have a proposed a $1.4 million study to examine the possibility of removing part of Interstate 280 in the city and convert a rail yard would yield 37 acres of prime urban real estate.
Mapping Transit "Deserts": An Imperfect Science
The first step to solving the transit “desert” problem is identifying where those deserts are. But that’s easier said than done.
Reimagining Paris’s Derelict Métro Stations
Parisian mayoral candidate Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet's proposal for the city’s abandoned train stations can be safely described as awesome. The designs are still a dream, but the city of lights is a good place for creative activity.
Coal Ash Spill Fouls North Carolina's Dan River
The coal ash spill, 82,000 tons as of Feb. 8 after being detected on Feb. 2, comes from a pond adjacent to a closed, coal-burning Duke Energy power plant. It is said not to pose a threat to drinking water, though the river has turned black and grey.
Researchers Link Density, Destinations to Active Transportation Habits
What, exactly, makes a neighborhood walkable? A new study published in the science journal PLOS-ONE begins to answer that question.
Michael Bloomberg's New International Roles on Cities and Climate Change
The former three-term New York City mayor, already president of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group has been appointed to a special United Nations envoy position on cities and climate change by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Placemaking Lessons Learned from Seattle's Super Bowl Parade
Last Wednesday, an estimated 700,000—more than the city's population of 635,000—welcomed the Seahawks home, without major incident. Writing in The Atlantic Cities, Chuck Wolfe describes five lessons for placemaking through words and photographs.
Friday Funny: People-Watching Hijinks
People watching on the train: we all do it. But some of us do it better. Like October Jones, who uses his commute downtime to animate his fellow passengers.
Friday Eye Candy: Mapping Urban Exercise Patterns
An enterprising blogger has produced a slew of urban maps with an overlay of publicly available data on exercise routes. In addition to being fetching, the patterns revealed show how runners make use of the public realm.
Ada County Highway District
Clanton & Associates, Inc.
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
