The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

BLOG POST

<p> On my coveted “Bane of Americana” list just behind my cell phone company&#39;s automated customer support option to “Press &#39;3&#39; To Stay On Hold” (not kidding!), is the so-called “Passenger Pick-Up System” at airport terminals.  Instead of realizing a purported orderly and safe system, by forcing cars to circuit the entire loop road in an attempt to perfectly intercept with arriving passengers, airports are perpetuating a half-brained scheme reminiscent of Disney World&#39;s Mad Tea Party ride. </p> <p> <img src="/files/u20603/madteaparty.jpg" width="448" height="336" /> <br /> <strong>It&#39;s Always Six O&#39;Clock At Terminal Eight!  </strong> </p>

June 1 - Ian Sacs

As the U.S. Green Building Council prepares to give its LEED-AP certification standards a major overhaul, test takers are scrambling to take the exam before it becomes a whole new ballgame.

June 1 - The Architect's Newspaper

Columnist Josh Leon agrees with Richard Florida's assessment that greater mobility would be better for the economy and the creative class, but wonders what will happen to the immobile and un-creative.

June 1 - Next American City

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is visiting Spain, hoping to glean some knowledge from the country's recent successes with high-speed rail.

June 1 - The New York Time - Energy & Environment

The group tasked with reenergizing Bermondsey Square in southeast London see their target audience as "urban safarians."

June 1 - Building

FEATURE

Josh Stephens reviews two biographies of cities, <em>The Dallas Myth: The Making and Unmaking of An American City</em> and <em>Reno’s Big Gamble: Image and Reputation in the Biggest Little City</em>.

June 1 - Josh Stephens

Kiplinger's picks its 2009 Best Cities list, and in this tough economy decides to put the emphasis on job creation and stability. Number one? Huntsville, Alabama.

June 1 - Kiplinger's

Serenbe is a new master-planned community outside of Atlanta that is creating a new model for placemaking in the U.S., taking its form from English villages and working within the natural environment.

May 31 - AIArchitect

The new Montreal Symphony Hall design is revealed. The architect states, 'We are not building for the ego of the architect, large as it might be.'

May 31 - The Montreal Gazette

Owen Hatherley presents his case for a revival of modernism, particularly in its original intent as a social reform movement, in his new book, Militant Modernism.

May 31 - Icon Eye

Our underused natural gas capacity could almost completely replace our current coal-generated energy, argues Sean Casten, President & CEO of Recycled Energy Development.

May 31 - Grist

Cities across the country are reconsidering tax abatement plans, in the new belief that cities just can't afford them.

May 31 - Next American City

BLOG POST

<p> &nbsp; </p> <p> As James Howard Kunstler points out in <em>Home From Nowhere</em>, one of the tragedies of single-use zoning is that it branded shopping as an “obnoxious industrial activity that must be kept separate from houses”.  Ironically, the places where most Americans shop today come pretty close to “obnoxious” and “industrial”. 

May 30 - Diana DeRubertis

The American Academy of Pediatrics has released a new report focusing on the effect of the built environment on children's health. Access to parks, the ability to walk to school, and opportunities for 'incidental exercise.'

May 30 - American Academy of Pediatrics

A 212-acre urban infill project in Yakima, Washington will be one of the first communities to be planned according to developing LEED-ND (Neighborhood Development) principles.

May 30 - Seattle Daily Journal Of Commerce

A team of visiting planners suggested that Detroit could evolve into a series of urban villages connected by countryside.

May 30 - Detroit Free Press

Developer Paul McKee has secretly assembled 500 acres of land in north St. Louis, and recently unveiled a plan that includes 4 and a half million sq. ft. of new office and retail and 10,000 new homes.

May 30 - St. Louis Post Dispatch

Developers are finding it easier to get funding for sustainable building projects due to federal incentives and investor interest in green certification.

May 30 - Apartment Finance Today

Pine Lake, Georgia City Council Member Melanie Hammet finds songwriting inspiration in the issues of land use planning.

May 29 - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The median home price in California notched up 1.4% in April from the previous month, prompting some to announce the market has bottomed out and is recovering.

May 29 - The Wall St. Journal