Dallas Area Rapid Transit has joined a national effort to explore how autonomous buses could shuttle people around cities in the future.
It is one of about a dozen transportation agencies that are part of the Automated Bus Consortium, which will research driverless buses and run pilot projects to better understand how they could be rolled out nationwide.
— Dallasnews.com
The consortium, whose membership includes the transit agencies of Los Angeles County and Atlanta, and the Michigan Department of Transportation, was created by AECOM and aims to begin testing a fleet of 75 to 100 full-sized automated buses in major cities by 2021 or 2022. Todd Plesko, Dallas... View full entry
The co-living startup Starcity plans to build an 800-unit, 18-story “dorm for adults” to help affordably house Silicon Valley’s booming workforce. Dishotsky, the co-founder/CEO of the co-housing start-up Starcity, is now working to fill America’s housing-strapped cities with a scaled-up version of his childhood idyll. — CityLab
Said to be the an 18-story "dorm for adults" the co-living startup Starcity aims to "redefining the meaning of home." The co-founder and CEO Jon Dishotsky is an advocate for co-living due to his upbringing in suburban Palo Alto. If asked about his upbringing, Dishotsky will share the story of... View full entry
Author William H. Frey, senior fellow for the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brooking Institute, writes, "These trends are consistent with previous census releases for counties and metropolitan areas that point to a greater dispersion of the U.S. population as the economy and housing... View full entry
These are all elements of what planner James Rojas calls “Latino Urbanism,” an informal reordering of public and private space that reflects traditions from Spanish colonialism or even going back to indigenous Central and South American culture.
Rojas, who coined the term “Latino Urbanism,” has been researching and writing about it for 30 years. His Los Angeles-based planning firm is called Place It!
— Streetsblog
Streetsblog interviews MIT-trained, LA-based urban planner James Rojas. When asked if and how principles of Latino Urbanism are being applied to traditional, tactical urbanism, Rojas says: "A lot of it is based on values. As a Latino planner, our whole value towards place is, 'How do you survive... View full entry
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced Wednesday that it will open two new University Transportation Centers (UTCs), one at the University of South Florida (USF) and one at Washington State University (WSU). Each UTC will receive $7.5 million in grant funding for transportation research and education. — Smart Cities Dive
Initiated in 1987 by the United States Department of Transportation, the University Transportation Center (UTC) program aides to improve research and education in transportation in order to improve the durability and lifespan of transportation infrastructures. Data and other transportation... View full entry
She told reporters that the council had finally managed to "resolve a historical anomaly in the city -- that an emblematic monument like the Sagrada Familia... didn't have a building permit, that it was being constructed illegally," Agence France-Presse reported. — CNN
Despite being under construction for 137 years, Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona, Spain has never had proper building permits. That is, until now. CNN reports that Barcelona's chief urban planner announced last week that the city council had finally awarded the committee... View full entry
Two state agencies that had been embroiled in a yearslong impasse over how to develop the last site at the World Trade Center appear to have resolved their differences and are planning to bring the parcel to market.
The Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. have reached a deal to release a request for proposals in the coming months for 5 World Trade Center
— Crain's New York
Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) head Holly Leicht explained in a meeting that "after quite a lengthy period of time of negotiation, we executed a memorandum of understanding with the Port, the LMDC and the city to move forward on an RFP for Site 5, which will be our last major site... View full entry
Diller Scofidio+Renfro (DS+R), Weiss/Manfredi, and Dorte Mandrup have been tapped to reimagine the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. Under a new initiative, the selected firms will compete to "reimagine and renovate" the 12-acre portion of L.A.'s Hancock Park that is home to the La Brea Tar Pits... View full entry
A vote this week by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has put the city on a path to virtually end youth incarceration, the first major city in the United States to do so. — Next City
Following an 18-month study guided by formerly-incarcerated teens, city officials have agreed to a plan that will close San Francisco's Youth Guidance Center juvenile jail by the end of 2021. The move will make San Francisco the first large city to eliminate its youth incarceration program. ... View full entry
Grauberger says they've already ruled out light rail because it would be too slow to travel the 173-mile route.
"We need higher speeds to be competitive with the interstate system," he says.
— KDVR
Regional governments in Colorado are studying ways for boosting the Front Range Urban Corridor region's interconnectivity. Officials expect the regional population to grow by 1.7 million inhabitants over the next 25 years and are looking to position that future growth to take advantage of... View full entry
Whether you're a fan or not of the influential Danish architect, Bjarke Ingels has designed some of the most distinct architectural structures. Aiming to push the limits of structural design through materials and sustainability approaches, Ingels spoke at a recent TED conference in April sharing... View full entry
Mayor London Breed’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year will soar by $1.2 billion — making it the largest in city history — and boost investment in tackling the city’s most urgent problems: housing and homelessness. — SF Chronicle
The housing and homelessness crisis in major cities, especially in San Francisco, has been an ongoing issue. Mayor London Breed met with city officials and San Francisco residents to address new plans to address solutions towards the increased initiative towards housing and homelessness. With an... View full entry
A site in Queens home to the United African Society of Newtown, the first community of free African Americans founded in New York State, is currently being marketed by real estate entity Cushman & Wakefield for $13.8 million as a development opportunity. What's left of the 1828 community... View full entry
The City Council voted to close a zoning loophole that has allowed developers to boost building heights with excessive mechanical spaces—but it’s only the first step in addressing the issue, say lawmakers. — Curbed NY
The zoning amendment will limit the city's notoriously over-sized mechanical spaces to 25-feet in height before additional space begins to eat into a project's allowable buildable area. New York City lawmakers are pushing to close other loopholes, as well, including rules impacting the use... View full entry
The housing crisis in large cities, especially in Los Angeles, has been an ongoing issue. Currently, Los Angeles County is home to the second largest population of settled homelessness in the U.S. Local government and organizations aim to create solutions in order to combat the issue with a little... View full entry
