The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Cleaning Out and Keeping Up Foreclosures
As foreclosures spread throughout California's Inland Empire, empty homes need to be cleaned and maintained. To meet the demand, an industry is rapidly expanding.
Texans for Transit
Officials in North Texas showed significant support yesterday for legislation to raise money for billions of dollars in road and rail improvements.
Clean Coal Stimulus Funds Put To Work In Indiana
Duke Energy hopes to tap $3.4 billion of stimulus funds to build the nation's first clean coal plant, burning the coal in a gaseous form and storing the CO2 emissions. It already has received federal funds to build the $2.35 coal power plant in IN.
Will "Ghost" Towers Dominate U.S. Skylines?
Paul Smalera sees in the the ghost towers of Bangkok a disturbing warning for economically distressed urban developments in the United States.
The News Hour Reports On Public Transit In Peril
"Blueprint America" looks at declining public transit subsidies and resulting transit service cuts. The video and report follows two East Bay commuters on suburban bus, BART; the transit agency meeting where bus service is reduced; MUNI LRT footage.
A New Paris, as Dreamed by Planners
Nine-month study commissioned by President Nicolas Sarkozy aims to transform Paris and its surrounding suburbs into the first sustainable “post-Kyoto" city.
BLOG POST
Free Pancakes, Free Rides, and (Almost) Free Beer
We Americans love a discount. Wal-Mart and the discount retail boom are proof enough of that. What we love even more, though, is free stuff. Just slap the word "free" before almost anything and we'll line up.<br /> <br /> This mentality represents some challenges for cities, but also some opportunities. The challenge is that if people don't have to pay for something, they probably won't. And the opportunity is that if people don't have to pay for something, they're way more likely to want it. Let's think of this concept in terms of three innately American traditions: pancakes, mobility, and beer.<br />
Amsterdam Leading Green City Movement
In the next few months, the Dutch capital will make numerous changes to make its infrastructure greener. With the help of private companies like Cisco and IBM, Amsterdam is closer to becoming a "smart city" than any other in Europe.
Habitat Tears Down Shrinking City's Houses
Habitat for Humanity, known for building low-cost, affordable houses, has taken to deconstructing homes in Saginaw, MI. Reselling the materials and building smaller homes in their stead make more sense than rehabilitating an old house, they say.
Maxed Out on Billboards
The city of Waco, Texas, imposes limits on new billboards--hoping to reduce its overall inventory with a "cap and replace" strategy.
Playing Catch-Up with Rail
Have high-speed rail stimulus funds put us any closer to technology like mag-lev? A long record of underfunding makes many of such projects shovel-unready, but hopes are still high.
Walk the Streets of Paris (Virtually) With Jim Kunstler
In the latest episode of his podcast, James Howard Kunstler provides commentary on the urbanism of Paris. By following along with Google Street View, you can walk the streets and see what he sees.
Innovative Regional Government
Envisioning a form of government more efficient to strategically invest scarce local, state and federal dollars is at the heart of such a proposal.
Legalize Gray Water!
Colorado law prohibits the collection of rainwater, but urban farmers, environmentally-conscious homeowners, and even developers are catching on to its benefits and building momentum for the legalization of rainwater harvesting.
New York's Post-Bubble Future
The economic downturn and burst of the real estate bubble have thrown a wrench into New York City's broad plans for redevelopment and environmental redesign. This piece looks at what lies ahead for the city.
Where's the Weird?
Architectural eccentricity is becoming a rarity in New York, as evidenced by the demolition of the O'Toole Building--a fairly weird building.
The 'Loin's Grunge and Grime Now Historic
Stocked with architectural gems but fraught with crime, San Francisco's Tenderloin district has long been debated as a possible historic site. The debate is now over, as it was recently named to the National Register of Historic Places.
Catering to Oakland's Enclaves
A one-size-fits-all urban landscape doesn't mean that different ethnic neighborhoods don't find ways to personalize them. A UC Berkeley graduate student investigates how cultures perceive space.
Redesigning City Design
President Obama has promised to give cities a new image, one as the engines that drive the economy and whose issues are intertwined with those of the suburbs. This article looks at some of the big ideas shaping the new city.
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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.
