The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Does having more density in a city means more people to pay property taxes, and thus, less of a tax burden on residents? Sam Newberg and a colleague run the numbers.

May 7 - Joe Urban

Cities are becoming smarter, as buildings and infrastructures become retrofitted with sensory technology. The question this raises is how this will change our perception of the public sphere, according to Martijn de Waal.

May 7 - The Mobile City

The city of Los Angeles is attempting to sue Deutsche Bank, the owner of thousands of foreclosed and blighted homes in the city. If it works, other cities could follow.

May 7 - Marketplace

<em>Urban Omnibus</em> ventures into the New York City Department of Transportation's Traffic Management Center to find out how technology is changing the way the city manages its traffic signals and traffic flows.

May 7 - Urban Omnibus

A new public plaza is being built in Washington D.C., and this rundown from <em>The Dirt</em> highlights its people-focused design.

May 7 - THE DIRT

Architecture critic Christopher Hume writes an homage to urban planning icon Jane Jacobs, highlighting the resiliency of her positions on density and diversity.

May 6 - Toronto Star

Richey Piiparinen argues that Americans don't necessarily want sprawl, but they are driven by unconscious motives, fears and hopes that haven't been properly dealt with yet.

May 6 - Rustwire.com

"...and maybe America," added Gov. Christie. The building in question is Xanadu, a brightly-colord mall that was scheduled to open in 2007 and with almost $2 billion spent ran into financing problems. New investment may turn the project around.

May 6 - The Record

A proposal to build a casino in downtown Minneapolis has locals and lawmakers wondering if it's a good deal for the city. The governor wants more than the suggested 25% take of revenues, but others say even that is not worthwhile.

May 6 - Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune

D.C.'s Office of Planning is launching a pilot program to do just that.

May 6 - Fast Company

After a first attempt fizzled in 2007, Toronto is launching a new bike sharing system.

May 6 - Urban Toronto

Sustainability-focused programs offered at the federal level have received overwhelming support from communities and protection from budget cuts, even in an age of tightened budgets.

May 6 - Citiwire

In comparing the legacies of artist Andy Warhol and urban thinker Jane Jacobs, this essay suggests that the sort of urban community we think of today is more a result of Warhol.

May 6 - Places

As Brazil prepares to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, renovations to the Maracana, an infamous soccer stadium in Rio de Janeiro, are pricing out the city's poor. Some say the work is killing one of the city's few egalitarian public places.

May 6 - The New York Times

This post from <em>This Big City</em> looks at how transportation needs to evolve, and some of the ways it could in the near future.

May 6 - This Big City

Density -- either high or low or somewhere in the middle -- is a key defining element of our cities. In this essay, Witold Rybczynski looks at the relative densities of U.S. cities and suggests that things may start to change subtly.

May 5 - Wilson Quarterly

While some Americans find them confusing, traffic roundabouts are good for the environment and cut down on time spent in traffic, say transportation planners.

May 5 - Marketplace

A private bus company with an internet-based reservation system is succeeding wildly, perhaps paving the way for successful bus transit (and away from rail).

May 5 - Providence Business News

When asked to describe their town at a charrette, the residents of Canon chose words like "rundown", "courageous" and "eccentric". University of Georgia students and professors worked with locals to create a vision for the town.

May 5 - The Frankling County Citizen

The U.N.'s population division has increased their world population projection, previously set to peak at mid-century at 9 billion. Now they say it will continue growing to reach 10.1 billion by 2100, with Africa tripling its numbers.

May 5 - The New York Times - World