The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<em>Next American City</em>'s Jeffrey Hill reads through the federal stimulus bill to find good news for cities.

March 16 - Next American City

In a recent feature in Time Magazine called 'Ten Ideas Changing the World Right Now,' no. 2 on the list is 'Recycling the Suburbs.'

March 15 - Time

This video takes a look at what may be the world's best subway system - Hong Kong's MTR. Riders hold shares in the public-private entity. And, as the video explains, it is profitable.

March 15 - World Focus

According to architecture critic Chris Hawthorne, Downtown Los Angeles' Civic Park does nothing in the way of creating its own identity. Instead, it neglects its image as a whole by being too fixated on its "aesthetic responsibility."

March 15 - Los Angeles Times

Vivek Kundra, the Washington D.C. chief technology officer who created an innovative publicly accessible database of city information, will be heading to a new office in D.C. -- at the White House.

March 15 - Citiwire

Indianapolis is a thriving job market, while Detroit is rapidly decaying and drying up. What's the difference? Policies encouraging public-private partnerships, according to this article from <em>Next American City</em>.

March 15 - Next American City

Even as service is being cut, enormous transit projects are coming online in New York and New Jersey, including a new $9 billion tunnel into Manhattan.

March 14 - USA Today

A kids treehouse in Highland, Arkansas is facing the local Planning and Zoning Commission, who may order its destruction. Is a treehouse a 'structure'?

March 14 - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) is an abbreviation that may become more common if the coal industry has its way. But The Economist argues that carbon taxes are a better way to improve the environment than investing in CCS technology.

March 14 - Minneapolis Star-Tribune

In an effort to reclaim a public plaza at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge that was demolished in the 1960s by Robert Moses, artist Brian Tolle is reconstructing the statues that once adorned the plaza.

March 14 - Bloomberg

Developers have released plans for a mixed use retail project to replace a horse racing track, a proposal that would be one of the largest redevelopment projects in the region.

March 14 - Los Angeles Times

Senator Mary Landrieu has threatened to take away some of New Orleans' unused federal dollars if they remain so. Of the unspent $34 million allocated for low-income housing, $11 million will be lost if there are no projects by May 31.

March 13 - The Times-Picayune

Jacksonville, Florida officials are considering removing pay phones on sidewalks and in downtown parks, which are often viewed as nuisances that hinder efforts to make neighborhoods cleaner and safer.

March 13 - The Florida Times-Union

Once the object of grand plans, L.A. county's Palmdale Regional Airport has tried in vain to sustain regular service and ease congestion at LAX. United's pullout in December leaves the future of regionalization in doubt.

March 13 - California Planning & Development Report

Environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, famous for the orange 'Gates' project in Central Park, are planning to run a 5.9 mile silver cloth over a whitewater river in Colorado. Environmentalists aren't happy about it.

March 13 - ASLA's The Dirt blog

Computer modeling predicts sea levels rising 55 inches by 2100, and a recent report from California's interagency Climate Action Team is calling for a radical reorganization of the state's coastal development and infrastructure to avoid disaster.

March 13 - Los Angeles Times

This piece from <em>Next American City</em> looks at the human toll major building projects are taking on construction workers in China, Dubai and other rapidly developing places.

March 13 - Next American City

Legislators in Utah have approved a bill that would allow the Utah Department of Natural Resources to swap a 3,000 year old Native American village to a group of developers intent on building a new transit station.

March 13 - Deseret News

In anticipation of the 2010 Winter Olympics, transportation planners in Vancouver are plotting permanent expansions to the city's public transit system. Demand will be high during the games, but many wonder what will happen after.

March 13 - The Tyee

Fast Company blogger Michael Cannell says the economic crisis stands to make big winners out of the new urbanists.

March 13 - Fast Company