The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

In a now infamous speech to the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Prince accused architects of having "a surfeit of abstracted ideology over the practical realities linked to people’s lives and the grain of their culture and identity."

May 13 - Bloomberg.com

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will officially open the new pedestrian transit plaza on 17th St., built on a swath of land in the Castro district that until recently allowed cars.

May 13 - Streetsblog SF

Buildings are designed to ensure fully mechanized comfort. Architect Terri Meyer Boake argues that designers need to think in terms of a spectrum of comfort in designing the reduced-impact buildings of the future.

May 13 - Treehugger

In Dublin, CA, the failure of a slew of big box retailers has created retail deadzones, dragging down local businesses and economies.

May 13 - San Francisco Chronicle

Atlanta is seen by many as the economic powerhouse of the South. But some say Charlotte's progress in providing transit and reducing traffic may begin to tip the scales.

May 13 - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Vauban, Germany is a new suburb that is part of the 'smart planning movement'. It is car-free, i.e. the streets are car-free, while car ownership is allowed but restricted to two garages, and the cost unbundled. Only 30% of families own cars.

May 12 - The New York Times - Environment

Crushed by the falling economy, failing retail spaces are renting their storefronts to make a some extra cash.

May 12 - The New York Times

A company called Fastskinz thinks so. They've created a vinyl car wrap based on the aerodynamic evidence from golf balls that an uneven surface creates less drag. Popular Mechanics puts the theory to the test.

May 12 - Popular Mechanics

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said recently that California and Florida are likely to be the first recipients of stimulus funding for high speed rail projects.

May 12 - The Wall Street Journal

<em>Prevention</em> magazine has pulled together a list of the top 25 American cities for walking.

May 12 - Prevention

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has set aside $980 million for Community Development Block Grants, which will be split among 1,200 governments.

May 12 - Architectural Record

Michigan's Mackinac Island has been car-free since 1898. GOOD Magazine pays a visit to the island and finds that far from being Luddite, the island is very progressive, from extensive wifi to hydroelectric power.

May 12 - GOOD Magazine

In this column, CA Lt. Gov. John Garamendi supports a regional plan to create a HOT lane network in the Bay Area, permitting single occupant vehicles to buy into the fast lanes, creating a new source of regional revenue to fund express bus service.

May 12 - The California Majority Report

Families who have income will now be charged a small rent to stay in public housing shelters in New York City, part of a 1997 state law that had up until now gone unenforced.

May 12 - The New York Times

The long-delayed and troubled design for Manhattan's Ground Zero site has undergone some improvements and been revealed in a new model. But as <em>New York Times</em> architecture critic Nicolai Oroussoff notes, the design is still lacking.

May 12 - The New York Times

Using waste to create alternative energy is a strategy the Obama administration is neglecting, says North America’s largest garbage hauler Waste Management Inc.

May 11 - Bloomberg.com

Towns in East Texas have watched their children graduate high school and leave town for generations- in some towns, up to 90% of graduates flee. Job development is key to keeping the kids down on the farm, but older locals balk at growth.

May 11 - Longview News Journal

The results are in for the Annual Buckminster Fuller Design Challenge. The winning designs include robo-scooters, biocentres, and a "future map".

May 11 - Seed Magazine

Anaheim, home of Disneyland, is the latest suburban enclave in California to become majority Latino. According to one expert, the shift is due to "two things: Latinos moving in and non-Latinos moving out."

May 11 - The Los Angeles Times

BLOG POST

<p>I received a newsletter in the mail recently about the <a href="http://www.purplelinemd.com/" target="_blank">Purple Line</a>, a light rail line in the planning process in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. Like hundreds of other public transit projects across the country, the rail line is in the &quot;planning&quot; stages and nobody can really say exactly when it will be constructed or begin operations.<br /><br />The cause is simple: too little funds and a lack of political support both locally and from the federal government. Quite simply, we get more roads because our policies are structured to spend more money on them, and they&#39;re more popular with elected officials. Although the specific cause of the lack of transit investment is simple enough, its effect on the way transit systems are planned and perceived by the public is far from simple. The lack of funds has added complexity length to an already complex and lengthy process. As a result, project supporters and detractors alike are alienated from the planning, forced to navigate a morass of acronyms, plans, and steps.<br /><br />The problem lies in the fact that since there is some money available, local supporters of the <a href="http://www.reconnectingamerica.org/public/reports/375" target="_blank">roughly 400 planned projects</a> (with an estimated total cost of $248 billion) pretend they&#39;ve got a shot at it. Time and again local boosters tell the media they&#39;ll just submit for federal funds and break ground after they complete the required paperwork. As we&#39;ll see, this couldn&#39;t be farther from the truth.<br /><br />

May 11 - Robert Goodspeed