The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

There's no shortage of bold and bizarre ideas for how to make our future cities more livable, sustainable, and efficient. Whether many of these ideas are feasible is another story.

November 24 - Future Cities

Michael Sivak of the Univ. of Michigan has published another key report documenting our waning love affair with the automobile. Sivak documents peak overall gasoline consumption occurring in 2004. Per capita fuel consumption may have peaked in 2003.

November 24 - Scientific American

The U.S. Department of State has selected Ann Beha Architects (ABA) to renovate the United States Embassy in Athens, Greece.

November 24 - Architect Magazine

For those living in one of the most industrial areas of Los Angeles County, a little green can go a long way. A landmark project could see an isolated piece of freeway in Long Beach replaced with much-needed park space.

November 23 - Los Angeles Times

In bright blues, greens, and reds, an interactive map developed by property information website Property Shark documents New York City's cornucopia of polluted properties. Check the map to see if you might be living next door to a leaking oil tank.

November 23 - Fast Company Co.Exist

A study prepared for the McKnight Foundation’s Food for Thought series has searched far and wide for lessons for keeping Minneapolis-St. Paul a prosperous and livable place.

November 23 - MinnPost

Tell me if this sounds familiar: A city repaves a crumbling street only to dig it up again 9 months later to replace an aging water main. Chicago's new Project Coordination Office (PCO) is intended to prevent such unnecessary and costly headaches.

November 23 - Governing

To battle blight caused by the plague of vacant properties left by declining populations and the Great Recession, cities and property owners are resorting to some sly tactics.

November 23 - The Wall Street Journal

Exploiting America's enduring fascination with fame and growing proclivity for cycling, a group on the social news and entertainment website Reddit has melded the two with one humorous twist - they've made the bikes invisible.

November 22 - My Modern Met

With the help of Buzzfeed, Zaha Hadid's design for Qatar's new Al-Wakrah sports stadium - which happens to bear a resemblance to "lady parts" - went viral this week. Philip Kennicott examines Qatar's "awkward moment".

November 22 - The Washington Post

The cancellation of Cincinnati's under-construction streetcar became a real possibility this month with the election of Mayor John Cranley. Could property owners and businesses who expected a boost from its arrival sue if it's cancelled?

November 22 - Cincinnati Business Courier

At the edge of the Kubuqi Desert in Inner Mongolia a nonprofit organization is planting millions of trees to slow the advancing sands. At stake is the air quality in Beijing and, perhaps, "the viability of the Asian continent."

November 22 - The Washington Post

Would you be willing to increase the annual license fee you pay on your vehicle if the funds were to go to road repair and expansion? That's the question Californians will be asked to decide if the Road Repairs Act qualifies for the Nov. 2014 ballot.

November 22 - Capitol Alert (Sacramento Bee blog)

Should you pay alcoholics in beer? This is the ethical dilemma thrown up by a city project in the famously liberal city of Amsterdam.

November 22 - Future Cities

The Communist Party announced on Nov. 15 two huge changes to two long-term policies that exerted enormous control over its citizens. More couples will be allowed to have additional children and "reeducation through labor camps" will be abolished.

November 22 - The New York Times - Asia Pacific

Through diligence and innovation, New York has been able to make the city's streets the safest of any big city in America. This month, it published a guide to help livable streets supporters anywhere replicate its success.

November 22 - STREETSBLOG.ORG

In order to stave off the worst climate change scenarios, experts have recommended that the world's countries must aggressively expand their efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Some surprising countries are headed in the opposite direction.

November 22 - Grist

New "sharrows on steroids" are being tested In the Allston neighborhood of Boston. Are the markings - parallel dashed lines bracketing a bicycle icon - a legitimate improvement on the controversial practice or "an underwhelming innovation"?

November 22 - Boston.com

Ben Protess and Jessica Silver-Greenberg provide a breakdown of how JPMorgan's $13 billion settlement over its sale of bad mortgage investments will be distributed to various public entities. How much will trickle down to struggling homeowners?

November 21 - The New York Times

Rep. Michael G. Grimm has introduced what may be this legislative season's most unobjectionable, and adorable, bill: the Pets on Trains Act of 2013.

November 21 - The Washington Post