The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Dan Leavitt, California High-Speed Rail Authority’s deputy director, says Calif. can either be at the whim of 'market-driven sprawl,' or high-speed rail can revolutionize the state. Yet, arguments for getting people to ride rail are contentious.

July 21 - The New York Times

Each year <em>Walk Score</em> ranks the top cities for walking, according to its own walk score methodology. In 2011, NYC placed #1. See the rest of the top 10!

July 21 - Walk Score

Observer music writers Pete Freeman and Daniel Hopkins debate the affects of suburban sprawl on the local music scene.

July 21 - Dallas Observer

In the Philippines, "eco-entrepreneur" Ilac Diaz is spreading an idea from MIT using 2-liter soda bottles and bleach to bring a 60 watt light bulb's worth of light into the building below.

July 21 - Reuters UK

Consultants hired by the City of Toronto are recommending dramatic cuts to public transit, including contracting out some routes and eliminating a late-night bus service popular with shift workers.

July 21 - The Globe and Mail

Bicycle use has increased in many parts of New Orleans, thanks to new bike lanes.

July 21 - Metropolis

FEATURE

July 21 - Amber Hawkes

A new public park in downtown Phoenix is both a venue for artists and performers and a public space that calls to mind a small neighborhood park, according to this piece from <em>Next American City</em>.

July 21 - Next American City

Though much of its urban form requires a car to traverse, a few new projects in Miami are shifting the city away from its past of parking lot sprawl.

July 21 - Wallpaper

Bicycling is growing in popularity in the U.S., but it still isn't considered a serious form of transportation as it is in Europe, according to this piece from <em>Yale Environment 360</em>.

July 21 - Yale Environment 360

Los Angeles Designer Julie Kim thinks the city is missing out on an opportunity at public transit hubs to create an environment that promotes interaction. So, Kim spruces up a bus stop with a coffee table and flowers and video records the results.

July 20 - GOOD Magazine

Cities plan to cut off individual parking garages is a gamble, says Josie Garthwaite in National Geographic -- yet making it impossible to park is one of the few yet most effective tools that reduces driving.

July 20 - National Geographic

This NYT editorial endorses the effort of a Long Island town supervisor to transform the Ronkonkoma LIRR station, one of the busiest stations on the nation's busiest commuter line from a sea of parking into a vibrant TOD with a convention center.

July 20 - The New York Times - Editorial

Using remote sensing, GPS technology and other high-tech strategies, city traffic planners aim to clear Midtown's infamous traffic problems - from Queens. The $1.6 million investment will tackle a problem costing the city about $13 billion a year.

July 20 - New York Post

Graffiti has cropped up this year in metropolitan areas like Los Angles to smaller communities like Florence, Alabama. The rise in graffiti has prompted a debate that it may reflect that anxiety and alienation are growing from the recession.

July 20 - The New York Times

BLOG POST

<span style="font-family: Arial; color: black">To its minimal credit, Borders Books &amp; Music always had a a few shelves where the works of Jacobs, Mumford, Kunstler, Whyte, Florida, and others resided. </span> <p class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Arial; color: black">But, judging by the financial and aesthetic bankruptcies of, respectively, Borders and many American cities, it seems that copies of Life and Death (or anything else) weren&#39;t exactly flying out the door. If the public&#39;s understanding of urban economies even began to rival its fascination for gossip, self-help, and vampires, Borders never would have arisen in the first place.

July 20 - Josh Stephens

A proposed 20-mile bridge would span the Red Sea to connect Egypt and Saudi Arabia -- connecting Arab states and reducing reliance on land passage through Israel.

July 20 - Der Spiegel

The amount of children under five has jumped in downtown Minneapolis, which is posing problems for the city and its school system.

July 20 - Minneapolis-St.Paul Star Tribune

A new 26-foot statue of Marilyn Monroe -- recreating a famous film scene in which wind blows up the star's skirt -- has been unveiled in Chicago. Tourists seem to like it, but others argue it's too kitschy.

July 20 - Chicago Sun-Times

Though population growth rates have slowed in cities and suburbs, their increasing interconnectedness has created sets of diverse metropolitan areas, according to the Brookings Institution's Alan Berube.

July 20 - The Brookings Institution