The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Eric Jaffe reports on a new study that aims to conclusively answer the question of whether bike paths and bike lanes actually promote more bike riders.

February 27 - The Atlantic Cities

Marina Strauss reports on the changing retail landscape, in which retailers such as Wal-Mart and Staples are counting on smaller stores to draw customers. As McMansions lose their luster, are over-sized retailers the next victim of changing tastes?

February 27 - The Globe and Mail

Yepoka Yeebo reports on Baltimore's newest plan to deal with the tens of thousands of abandoned houses that mar the city.

February 27 - Business Insider

As the population of Downtown Los Angeles has grown dramatically over the last decade, the need for park space to serve that population has grown along with it. A new pocket park being built along Spring Street helps meet that need.

February 27 - The Architect's Newspaper

Matt Bevilacqua speaks with Ellen Dunham-Jones, renowned co-author of Retrofitting Suburbia, about the key factors impacting suburban redevelopment and the recent retrofit projects across the country that have caught her eye.

February 27 - Next American City

BLOG POST

<p> Already a major technology trend, 2012 promises to be a watershed for &quot;big data.&quot; A shorthand term for the proliferation of large datasets, big data also refers to the expansion of analytic techniques for teasing meaning from the vast archives of information produced by the digital world. The New York Times&#39; Steve Lohr declared we have entered the &quot;age of big data&quot; in a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/sunday-review/big-datas-impact-in-the-world.html">recent article</a> that compared it with another revolutionary research tool -- the microscope. </p>

February 27 - Robert Goodspeed

Metropolis blogger Joseph G. Brin interviews Charlie Miller, P.E., of Roofmeadow, to find out why green roofs have been slow to catch on in the United States.

February 27 - Metropolis

Robert Poole reports on efforts across the country to reduce freeway congestion through HOV-to-HOT conversion and public-private partnerships.

February 27 - reason.com

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> Last Thursday I debated the merits of <a href="http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/about_sg.htm">smart growth</a> with <a href="http://ti.org/antiplanner/">‘Anti-planner’ Randal O&#39;Toole</a> at a <strong><span style="font-size: 18pt; letter-spacing: 0.25pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #1f497d"><a href="http://www.southfraser.net/2012/01/south-fraser-ontrax-presents-debate-on.html">community forum</a> </span></strong>in Langley, a rapidly-growing suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia. <span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, 'Bitstream Vera Sans', sans-serif">A recording of the Debate and presenters&#39; slide shows are available at <a style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: #005884" href="http://www.southfraser.net/2012/02/smart-growth-debate-media.html">www.southfraser.net/2012/02/smart-growth-debate-media.html</a>. </span>At the end more than three quarters of the audience voted for a <a href="http://www.southfraser.net/2012/01/smart-growth-debate-resolution.html">pro-smart-growth resolution</a>. This may reflect some selection bias – people concerned about sprawl may have been more likely to attend – but I believe that given accurate information most citizens will support smart growth due to its various <a href="http://www.vtpi.org/sg_save.pdf">savings and benefits</a>.   </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> Smart growth sometimes faces <a href="/node/54342">organized opposition</a> by critics. It is important that planners respond effectively and professionally. Here is my critique of O&#39;Toole’s claims and some advice for planners who face similar critics. 

February 27 - Todd Litman

After years of lost revenue from fare evaders, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is looking to implement gate-locking at Metro rail stations within six months, reports Ari Bloomekatz.

February 27 - Los Angeles Times

Water has played a starring part in the development of Los Angeles (for exhibit A, see the film <em>Chinatown</em>). Christine MacDonald explores how water may take a star turn once again, in its demise.

February 26 - The Atlantic Cities

Much has been made about the democratizing and geographic obliterating effects of Twitter, however new research shows how parochial Twitter's paths of communication actually are.

February 26 - NPR

In a guest editorial for <em>Rust Wire</em>, Nick Gurich examines the ways in which LEED discounts the environmental benefits of historic preservation and adaptive reuse

February 26 - Rust Wire

As cities across the country build and revive their streetcar networks, a sense of nostalgia for the time when they could be found in cities across the country is leading to a thriving business in refurbishing old streetcars.

February 26 - Governing

Tom Stoelker pens a feature in <em>The Architect's Newspaper</em> examining the decades-long upheavals in retail and current efforts to shape retail in ways that will preserve urban character while growing the economy.

February 26 - The Architect's Newspaper

Jen Carlson writes about an incredibly ambitious (or naive) plan from 1934 to expand buildable area in New York by paving over the Hudson River.

February 25 - Gothamist

More than a century after it was first introduced, Sarah Laskow examines the many advantages of using, and reusing, energy in cogeneration power plants, a technology whose time has come.

February 25 - Good

Eric Jaffe writes on the appearance of the grocery store of the future in an unlikely place, Philadelphia's SEPTA transit stations.

February 25 - The Atlantic Cities

As state authorities prepare to replace the aging bridge, local officials and interest groups propose an "exciting" alternative to demolition.

February 25 - New York Times

Detroit native Pete Saunders makes the case that poor planning put the nail in Motown's casket.

February 25 - Urbanophile