Hacker News with Generative AI: Urban Planning

London air pollution down since Ulez extended to outer boroughs, study finds (theguardian.com)
People in London have been breathing significantly cleaner air since the expansion of the ultra low emission zone (Ulez), a study has found.
Air Quality, London, Environmental Policy, Urban Planning
7 points by zeristor 2 days ago | 0 comments
Why Rich People Don't Cover Their Windows (theatlantic.com)
Walk down the block of a wealthy neighborhood at night, and you might be surprised by how much you can see. One uncovered window might reveal the glow of a flatscreen TV across from a curved couch; through another, you might glimpse a marble kitchen island and a chandelier. Of course, some of the curtains are closed—but many are flung open, the home’s interiors exposed, like you’re peering into a showroom.
Wealth, Privacy, Urban Planning, Architecture
8 points by ustad 9 days ago | 2 comments
Toyota completes phase 1 construction of futuristic city (nhk.or.jp)
Toyota Motor has completed the first phase construction of a futuristic city southwest of Tokyo that will weave new technologies into urban living.
Toyota, Urban Planning, Future Cities, Technology
72 points by 1970-01-01 11 days ago | 83 comments
The Moped King (streetsblogprojects.org)
Twenty years ago, e-bikes and mopeds were rare in the city, but now they are everywhere — buzzing around midtown office towers during the lunch rush, parked in long rows outside takeout spots, and, occasionally, barreling down bike lanes and sidewalks.
Transportation, Urban Planning
21 points by paulgb 12 days ago | 9 comments
NYC's Congestion Pricing Hits Revenue Target, Continues to Prove Doubters Wrong (jalopnik.com)
Data from the first month of New York City's congestion pricing scheme proves that it's still an undisputed success.
Traffic, New York, Urban Planning, Transportation Policy, Economics
14 points by rntn 12 days ago | 0 comments
The Mission is the new Tenderloin (sfstandard.com)
The Sixth Street drug market has found a new home.
San Francisco, Drugs, Crime, Urban Planning
7 points by iancmceachern 15 days ago | 0 comments
L.A. is getting fire recovery wrong. Two experts explain how to do it better (latimes.com)
One month later, two wildfire experts argue that the destruction didn’t have to be as bad as it was.
Wildfires, California, Disaster Recovery, Urban Planning
10 points by PaulHoule 16 days ago | 0 comments
A fiscal crisis is looming for many US cities (theconversation.com)
Five years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many U.S. cities are still adjusting to a new normal, with more people working remotely and less economic activity in city centers.
Economics, Urban Planning, COVID-19
38 points by rntn 16 days ago | 101 comments
The Prophet of Parking: A eulogy for the great Donald Shoup (worksinprogress.news)
Professor Donald Shoup died on February 6th. M. Nolan Gray explains how his mentor changed political economy of parking, and cities themselves, forever.
Urban Planning, Cities, Economics, Obituaries
321 points by herbertl 24 days ago | 303 comments
Florence bans key boxes, a symbol of overtourism (lemonde.fr)
The Tuscan city, like others in Italy, is facing a massive influx of tourists, leading to accommodation issues and the depopulation of its historic center.
Tourism, Italy, Urban Planning, Over Tourism
13 points by lqet 26 days ago | 16 comments
Streetsblog Mourns the Passing of Donald Shoup (streetsblog.org)
Donald Shoup, the author of the groundbreaking High Cost of Free Parking and UCLA Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus in the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA, passed away last Thursday evening, February 6, 2025.
Urban Planning, Transportation, Obituaries
8 points by riffic 28 days ago | 1 comments
Frank Lloyd Wright's mile high skyscraper proposal (2021) (onverticality.com)
In the debate over density, architects and planners are split into two camps. The first is pro-density, which believes in dense, centralized cities that function through complex mass-transit systems and clusters of skyscrapers. This is the pro-city crowd. The second is the anti-density camp, which believes in de-centralized, spread-out networks of neighborhoods that rely on automobiles and low buildings. This is the pro-suburb crowd.
Architecture, Urban Planning, History
174 points by nohide 30 days ago | 184 comments
America's "First Car-Free Neighborhood" Is Going Pretty Good, Actually? (dwell.com)
It’s been two years since Culdesac Tempe, the self-proclaimed "first car-free neighborhood in America," opened with a goal of making walkability its centerpiece.
Urban Planning, Sustainability, Transportation, Arizona
61 points by prawn 32 days ago | 105 comments
US Pedestrian Study: We're Walking Faster, Hanging Out Less (bloomberg.com)
Pedestrian Behavior, Urban Planning, Social Trends, United States
11 points by Amorymeltzer 43 days ago | 7 comments
Sweden Is Building the Largest City Made from Timber (time.com)
A yellow crane hovers above a building site in Sickla, a former industrial neighbourhood that’s home to one of Stockholm’s biggest real estate projects. But instead of delivering concrete, it’s manoeuvring giant chunks of wood to construction staff working in sub-zero winter temperatures.
Architecture, Sustainability, Sweden, Urban Planning
16 points by pseudolus 46 days ago | 7 comments
A sprawling megacity of multi-level madness (theguardian.com)
This megacity is like Hong Kong on steroids – a vertically sprawling, astonishing urban phenomenon that can only be understood in three dimensions
Urban Planning, Architecture, Hong Kong, Cities
20 points by prawn 48 days ago | 8 comments
NYC Congestion Pricing: Early Days (thezvi.substack.com)
People have to pay $9 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street. What happened so far?
Transportation, Urban Planning, Economics
10 points by paulpauper 52 days ago | 1 comments
Making an intersection unsafe for pedestrians to save seconds for drivers (collegetowns.substack.com)
How the redesign of a street in a walkable college town reflects our broader values for cars over people.
Urban Planning, Transportation, Pedestrian Safety, Road Design
311 points by raybb 53 days ago | 443 comments
Tokyo drift: what happens when a city stops being the future? (theguardian.com)
Tokyo remains, in the world’s imagination, a place of sophistication and wealth. But with economic revival forever distant, ‘tourism pollution’ seems the only viable plan
Tokyo, Urban Planning, Future, Economics, Tourism
9 points by mindracer 54 days ago | 1 comments
Why Skyscrapers Became Glass Boxes (construction-physics.com)
The most common style for skyscrapers in the US (and probably the world) is the glass box — a structural skeleton of steel or concrete, with a skin of non-load bearing curtain wall made of glass and metal (typically aluminum), and without much in the way of decoration or ornament.
Architecture, Design, Building Materials, History, Urban Planning
126 points by chmaynard 55 days ago | 89 comments
The case for letting Malibu burn (1995) (longreads.com)
Many of California’s native ecosystems evolved to burn. Modern fire suppression creates fuels that lead to catastrophic fires. So why do people insist on rebuilding in the firebelt?
California Wildfires, Environmental Issues, Fire Management, Urban Planning
180 points by pseudolus 55 days ago | 268 comments
How to Build a Better Bike Lane, According to Transportation Officials (bloomberg.com)
Over the past decade, protected bike lanes have gone mainstream in US cities. A new traffic engineering guidebook invites them to think even bigger.
Transportation, Urban Planning, Cycling, Infrastructure, Safety
18 points by Amorymeltzer 57 days ago | 1 comments
Can American Drivers Learn to Love Roundabouts? (bloomberg.com)
They save lives, reduce traffic delays and cut emissions. Still, communities often resist them. Can cities get drivers to turn the corner on circular intersections?
Traffic, Transportation, Engineering, Urban Planning, Public Safety
6 points by toomuchtodo 61 days ago | 17 comments
U-Haul Growth Metros and Cities of 2024: Dallas Top Metro for In-Migration (uhaul.com)
PHOENIX, Ariz. (Jan. 3, 2024) — The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area, better known as the DFW Metroplex, is the leading U-Haul Growth Metro of 2024.
Demographics, Migration, Urban Planning, Dallas, Texas
27 points by rawgabbit 64 days ago | 13 comments
'Living proof that you can spend money on the poor': Utopia comes to Mexico City (theguardian.com)
A visionary mayor has harnessed her imagination to promote health, wellbeing and culture in one of the Mexican capital’s most impoverished neighbourhoods
Social Impact, Urban Planning, Mexico, Poverty, Government
18 points by spoonfeeder006 71 days ago | 0 comments
Tokyo makes 3D data available (tokyo.lg.jp)
サイバー空間上に東京都を再現し、様々なデータを重ねることで、これまでは気づき得なかった新たな視点に出会うことができます。
Tokyo, 3D Data, Virtual Reality, Urban Planning, Open Data
20 points by sabman 72 days ago | 1 comments
Rethinking Zoning to Increase Affordable Housing  (nahro.org)
Zoning, initially designed to regulate land use and density, has evolved into a significant impediment for growing communities attempting to adapt to current circumstances.
Zoning, Affordable Housing, Urban Planning
41 points by madihaa 73 days ago | 72 comments
London Transport Explained in Nine Graphs (londoncentric.media)
How the ability to travel around the city shapes the capital, its residents, and the lives we lead.
London, Transportation, Data Visualization, Urban Planning, Demographics
26 points by bookofjoe 74 days ago | 0 comments
Converting shopping malls into apartments [video] (youtube.com)
Urban Planning, Real Estate, Architecture, Video
46 points by debo_ 75 days ago | 61 comments
Good cities can't exist without public order (noahpinion.blog)
Anyone who reads this blog knows that I’m a huge fan of dense, walkable cities. Much of my enthusiasm comes from living in Japan for several years, and I’ve written a bunch of posts about why Japanese cities are so especially great. Here was the most relevant one for today’s post:
Urban Planning, Japan, Cities
33 points by paulpauper 75 days ago | 42 comments