The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Small Cars In The Land Of SUVs

An Acura driver gets a ticket for parking in a parking spot reserved for SUVs.

December 12 - The San Francisco Chronicle

College, City Team Up To Build Affordable Homes

St. Cloud, MN, finds the right mix of student skills and city vision to breathe life into an older neighborhood.

December 12 - St. Cloud Times

The Emergence Of Geoportals

A new academic paper traces the emergence of geoportals -- the next big thing for geographic information and e-government.

December 11 - Computers, Environment And Urban Systems

Environmentalist Awarded Nobel Peace Prize

Kenyan environmentalist, Wangari Maathai is the first African woman and first environmental activist to win the prize.

December 11 - The Guardian Unlimited

Washington Post Weighs In On Smart Growth Principles

Editorial applauds suburban transit-oriented development and encourages officials to plan smartly.

December 11 - The Washington Post


Sam Who?

Bush nominates little-known official, Samuel Bodman, to be energy secretary.

December 11 - Bloomberg

A Place To Dock

Lira Luis’s easy-to-assemble fiberglass kit of parts would make it possible for migrant seafarers in Manila to set up temporary living quarters between jobs.

December 11 - MetropolisMag.com


To Change A City's Looks, Change How City Hall Works

The push to beautify Toronto will inevitably encounter the paralyzing effect of bureaucracy.

December 10 - The Toronto Star

BLOG POST

'Computer of The Future' Photo Is A Hoax

According to <a href="http://www.snopes.com/">Urban Legends References Pages</a>, the widely circulated 1954 photograph of what a home computer in 2004 would look like is an Internet hoax. The website provides <a href="http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/computer.asp">details</a>: <br /> <blockquote><br /> Although the photograph displayed could represent what some people in the early 1950s contemplated a "home computer" might look like (based on the technology of the day), it isn't, as the accompanying text claims, a RAND Corporation illustration from 1954 of a prototype "home computer." The picture is actually an entry submitted to an image modification competition, taken from an original photo of a submarine maneuvering room console found on U.S. Navy web site, converted to grayscale, and modified to replace a modern display panel and TV screen with pictures of a decades-old teletype/printer and television (as well as to add the gray-suited man to the left-hand side of the photo).</blockquote>

December 10 - Abhijeet Chavan

Misconceptions About Land Use And Stormwater Runoff

A new academic study questions fundamental concepts and misconceptions routinely accepted in stormwater quality management.

December 10 - Journal Of Environmental Management

Udall Urges Bush To Combat Global Warming

Former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall urges Bush to set up a NATO-like organization to combat global warming.

December 10 - The Los Angeles Times

San Francisco's Ugliest Buildings

Columnist John King details his criteria for labeling the ugliest buildings in the Bay Area.

December 10 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Innovative Affordable Architecture

With an architectural competition, the City of Montreal challenged the construction industry to design innovative, affordable residential solutions.

December 10 - The Montreal Gazette

Is The Housing Bubble About To Burst?

The respected UCLA Anderson forecast says that California and the U.S. are in a housing bubble.

December 10 - The Los Angeles Times

'Listening To The City'

A graduate course makes students put aside preconceptions and discover the realities of local urban environments.

December 10 - Harvard University

Traffic And Mass Transit In Paradise?

O'ahu residents support a new mass transit system -- and are willing to increase taxes to get it.

December 10 - Honolulu Advertiser

Nation's 'Most Ambitious' Integrated Transit Solution

Denver plans to make financing available to developers of low- and moderate-income rental housing near transit stations.

December 10 - The Denver Post

Urban Growth And The Toronto Greenbelt

The Fraser Institute publishes a report by Wendell Cox questioning Ontario's plans to implement smart growth policies intended to slow the growth of urban land areas.

December 10 - The Fraser Institute

Housing Cannot Match Population Growth

Housing prices outpace wage growth while housing supply fails to meet population demand.

December 9 - The Washington Post

The Dangerous Future Of Traffic Engineering

Can making roads seem more dangerous actually make them safer? A new form of traffic engineering turns traditional traffic planning upside down.

December 9 - Wired

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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.