The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Urban Land explores examples of recent projects where historic assets serve as unlikely catalysts for master-planned community development and economic growth

January 17 - Urban Land

Stunning archaeological discoveries made in Brazil in recent years have upended conventional wisdom about the forests of the western Amazon.

January 17 - The New York Times

The Supreme Court decision to approve the elimination of California's redevelopment agencies late last year set February 1st as the date of dissolution. A new bill in the state senate would slow down the clock.

January 17 - California Planning & Development Report

Tools for civic engagement -- there's an app for that. The Knight Foundation announces Engagement Commons, a comprehensive catalogue of civic engagement software.

January 17 - Knight Blog

The EPA's new fuel efficiency standards have auto makers scrambling to produce electric and hybrid vehicles, but the higher prices of these vehicles deter buyers.

January 17 - The New York Times

Is Stockholm the world capital of music? Richard Florida maps the geography of popular music using the announced lineup for the 2012 Coachella Music Festival.

January 17 - The Atlantic Cities

Just three weeks after the city announced it was cancelling plans for a 9.3-mile light rail line, a truncated version may be built, but with some key caveats.

January 16 - the transport politic

An increasing number of cities, often led by entrepreneurial mayors, are thinking and acting like startups. The qualities that make a startup company and a city successful, are "remarkably similar".

January 16 - Tech Cruch

Long Beach is leading California's bicycle revolution in many ways, perhaps most creatively in establishing bike-friendly shopping districts.

January 16 - Grist

Urban Omnibus declares the visionary work of the Speculation Studio at Columbia University an overdue evolution in architectural education.

January 16 - Urban Omnibus

FEATURE

What is the relationship between car travel and health outcomes in the United States? Ariel Godwin and Anne Price challenge the claim that more time in the car decreases your health by looking at the impacts of education, income, and employment rates.

January 16 - Anne Price

Robert Steuteville takes issue with a recent report on NPR's <em>Marketplace</em> by noted Economist Steven Levitt that concluded that driving while drunk is safer than walking while drunk.

January 16 - Better! Cities & Towns

Joerg Haentzschel interviews the young architect Bjarke Ingels. Through offices now established in Copenhagen and New York, Ingels is slowly pushing his 'pragmatic utopian architecture' into the mainstream.

January 16 - 032C

Writing in the online edition of the January issue of Planning, Bobbie Peyton explores what can be learned from the pioneering Foodshed Planning efforts of San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego.

January 16 - Planning

An update on efforts by the City of Los Angeles to develop a new ordinance to allow artists to legally paint on the walls of private property.

January 16 - KCET Departures

A new study produced by an international team of scientists focuses on efforts to reduce the production of two shorter-term pollutants, rather than carbon dioxide, that drive climate change.

January 16 - The Washington Post

Investment in improving public spaces seen as key to keeping and attracting businesses and residents in Baltimore.

January 16 - The Baltimore Sun

Catering to potential office tenants who would want more modern spaces, New York City officials are toying with rezoning a swath of midtown Manhattan, allowing for even more density and the replacement of aging office buildings.

January 15 - The Wall Street Journal

David Schalliol's photographs of abandoned places around the country are intended to be testaments to various social forces that have broken down urban places in recent years. But, he says, they are optimistic as well.

January 15 - Huffington Post

For the famous Danish community of squatters, an offer from the Government to purchase their land proved too good to refuse.

January 15 - The New York Times