Government / Politics
Freeway Teardowns: The Prudent Choice?
Efforts to tear down the Interstate-10 Claiborne Expressway, a 2.2 mile section of elevated roadway in New Orleans that many locals and activists have blamed for separating neighborhoods. Neal Pierce says teardowns might begin to grow in popularity.
Recovery Through Open Data in Detroit and New Orleans
In Detroit and New Orleans, open data proponents are pushing local government to share public data in ways that help citizens in these struggling cities to improve their communities.
The Urban Impact of Richard Daley
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who recently announced he would not seek re-election, has had a major impact on the city and its urban form, according to this review.
Developing Detroit's New Comprehensive Plan
The city of Detroit is looking to create a comprehensive plan for rethinking the struggling city. Next American City talks with the officials heading the effort about the challenges they face.
Backing the Infrastructure Bank
The Los Angeles Times is standing behind President Barack Obama's recently announced infrastructure bank proposal, but not just because it could boost transit in L.A.
Obama Calls For $50 Billion Transportation Stimulus
Calling it an investment plan in job growth in the transportation sector, the President in a Labor Day speech outlined a six-year plan for investment in road, rail, and airports to be paid for by eliminating tax breaks and subsidies from big oil.
Can A City Function on Low Taxes?
Colorado Springs, Colorado has some of the lowest property taxes in the nation, and its heavily right-wing residents like it that way. But with the recession, the lack of tax income is causing some heavy cuts to city services.
Southern CA MPO Snubs Air Board By Reducing Emissions Targets
The Southern California Association of Governments rebuffed the CA Air Resources Board by deliberately setting lower targets for greenhouse gas emissions per SB 375, the 2008 law intended to reduce GHG emissions from transportation.
The Visions of Paolo Soleri: Dimmed, But Still Hanging in There
In 1970, visionary architect Paolo Solieri began envisioned a utopian city in Arizona. The resulting development, Arcosanti, and its architect have struggled for relevancy ever since.
Shifting Federal Transportation Dollars to Create More Jobs
Shifting federal transportation dollars to transit projects could help create up to 180,000 jobs and not raise the federal deficit, according to a new report.
HSR Opponents Vow To Continue Litigation
Contention over how California's high speed rail train from Los Angeles should access the Bay Area appears to be the dispute that won't go away. Having just lost their case in court only 2 weeks ago, approval of the Pacheco Pass may continue.
Exporting Suburbanism
Developing countries have begun importing Western-style pro-sprawl urban planning policies, often to their detriment. Kuala Lumpur and cities across the communist world are examined.
RLUIPA and the Mosque-Building Controversy
The recent controversies surrounding the building of mosques in cities across America have their resolution in one simple acronym: RLUIPA.
Has American Individualism Failed Society as a Whole?
Mary Newsom questions the current and diminishing lack of public worth in the United States today. " Americans have stopped believing that value is something everyone deserves," she writes.
Temporary Autonomous Zones Alter Public Space in The UK
The increase in outdoor music festivals, guerrilla gardening, temporary restaurants, cinemas and pop-up shops are all examples of "a growing appetite for transforming our apparently prosaic, profit-led landscape into something else."
Dubai's Formula of Tax Free Economic Zones and Mass Tourism Doesn't Work
Joshua Hammer describes his visit to the financially straitened emirate where he found "deserted highways, empty hotel rooms, miles of unsold residential and office space."
Curbing Corruption
Rick Cole, City Manager of Ventura, California, says the recent scandal over inflated city staff salaries in Bell could have been easily avoided with a few simple precautions.
New York Passes Smart Growth Bill
Governor David Paterson signed The Smart Growth Public Policy Infrastructure Policy Act on Monday, which directs the state to invest in infrastructure in dense communities rather than sprawling ones.
The Scuffle Over "Livability"
Representative Earl Blumenauer talks about the recent defeat of livability programs in the Transportation Appropriations Bill.
Bus Riders Union Blasts L.A.'s 30/10 Plan
A proposal in L.A. to use recently approved funding to push 30 years of transportation projects into the next decade has elicited a protest from the city's Bus Riders Union.
Pagination
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
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Planning for Universal Design
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EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service