The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Driving Species to Extinction

A new report highlights the threat posed to a wide range of species by the extraction of fossil fuels in the United States.

January 22 - CommonDreams

Centers of the USA

Christopher Hawthorne reviews an exhibition at the Center for Land Use Interpretation in Los Angeles on the subject of nine places in the United States that claim to occupy the center of the country.

January 21 - Los Angeles Times

Freedom Bulbs and the Political Debate on Climate Change

In announcing a new initiative led by ULI and the Greenprint Foundation, Ed McMahon looks at the disconnect between politicians and the marketplace in the debate around climate change and U.S. energy policy.

January 21 - Urban Land

Quality or Quantity: What is More Important in Attracting Transit Riders?

What is more likely to constitute a successful transit system -- one that runs dirty old vehicles at shorter headways or one that runs beautiful comfortable vehicles less frequently? Tom Vanderbilt wades into the public conversation in <em>Slate</em>

January 21 - Slate

Mapping the Booze Belt

Richard Florida takes a look at new information out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that identifies binge drinking rates by state.

January 21 - The Atlantic Cities


Google Fiber Work Hung Up In Kansas City

With much fanfare, Kansas City was selected in 2011 as the launching site for Google's experimental fast fiber-optic network. Now, a dispute about how and where to run fiber optic lines on poles in the city is causing significant delays.

January 21 - The Kansas City Star

Friday Funny: Pantsless in New York

The Daily News does its best to, ahem, "cover" this year's version of the annual New York City "No Pants Subway Ride." Beware, potentially NSFW.

January 20 - New York Daily News


The "Avoid Ghetto" Walking App

At least that's what some are accusing Microsoft of patenting in its "Pedestrian Route Production" app, whose aim is to help pedestrians avoid unsafe neighborhoods "by taking information from maps, weather reports, crime statistics and demographics."

January 20 - NPR

Brown Doubles Down on High Speed Rail

Facing strong headwinds from citizens, legislators, and analysts, Governor Jerry Brown threw his unequivocal support behind the state's proposed high speed rail project in his annual State of the State address.

January 20 - The New York Times

Ever Wonder Why There Are No Skyscrapers in the Middle of Manhattan?

If you never knew, or thought you knew, the reason why there are no skyscrapers in the middle of the Big Apple, Matt Chaban reports on the true cause, debunking a popular myth.

January 20 - The New York Observer

Nation's Largest Net-Zero Mixed Use Project Planned for Philadelphia

Branden Klayko reports on the pioneering project planned by innovative Philadelphia design-build developers Onion Flats.

January 20 - The Architect's Newspaper

Who Gets Hurt When Redevelopment Gets Abandoned?

Ron Nyren examines the various types of projects that will be negatively impacted by California's decision to abandon redevelopment.

January 20 - Urban Land

Virginia's Green Building Revolution

The commonwealth's nonprofit affordable housing developers are outgreening their market-rate peers, bringing green building up to scale statewide.

January 20 - Shelterforce

A Tale of Two Cities

Melinda Burns uses two California cities through which to investigate the reasons why the foreclosure crisis has impacted communities in dramatically different ways.

January 20 - Miller-McCune

Revealing Parking's Hidden Costs

Dave Gardetta highlights the work of Donald Shoup and others whose mission is to eradicate the parking minimum in Los Angeles.

January 20 - Los Angeles Magazine

An Ever Evolving Zoning Code

However one's feelings on zoning, New York City's Resolution has changed over the years to positively reinforce good social initiatives over the outright banishment of negative uses, Julie V. Iovine reports.

January 20 - The Wall Street Journal

The Future of Development in D.C.

Steven Pearlstein reads the tea leaves to predict the future development patterns in Washington, D.C. and finds that all signs point inwards to the city center and its closer-in suburbs.

January 19 - The Washington Post

Iconic '50s Ranch Homes Get Their Due in St. Louis

St. Louis is moving towards protecting its mid-century architectural treasures. Some see the buildings as impediments to economic development.

January 19 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Building Transit Ridership Through R&D

Emily Badger profiles Arlington County's Mobility Lab, and its Transit Tech initiative, which has managed to take 40,000 car trips a day off of the county’s roads by easing access to their existing infrastructure.

January 19 - The Atlantic Cities

Whatever Happened to Obama's Urban Agenda?

Writing in Grist, Greg Hanscom's position is that under Obama's guidance, the Federal Government has shifted away from subsidizing sprawl and towards reviving cities. Agree?

January 19 - Grist

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Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.

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.