Los Angeles updates zoning in Hollywood – moving towards metro-centric city

A plan that could dramatically remake the Hollywood skyline and form the blueprint for denser development around the city’s growing rail network has won unanimous approval from the Los Angeles City Council. Revised zoning guidelines for Sunset Boulevard and surrounding streets will make it easier for developers to build bigger and taller buildings, especially around …

11 documentaries about cities – streaming on Netflix

Here are 11 new and new-ish documentaries now streaming that offer interesting, frustrating and downright sad stories about cities.   Bill Cunningham New York 2010, 84 minutes Directed by Richard Press A film about octogenarian and New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham, who rides his bike around New York City taking pictures of clothes …

Walkability raises housing value by $4,000 – $34,000

Can you walk to stores, schools and a park from your home? If so, your house or condo may be worth substantially more than those in more isolated, pedestrian-hostile neighborhoods. That’s the finding of “Walking the Walk: How Walkability Raises Housing Values in U.S. Cities,” a study by Joseph Cortright that analyzed data from 94,000 …

Top 3 Reasons To Choose Airbnb Over Hotels

Airbnb is disrupting the hotel industry. As of February 2012, 5 million guest nights have been booked worldwide since the site’s launch in 2007, with a 500% growth in the past year and accommodations in over 19,000 cities.     I’ve now stayed at two properties (one in San Diego and one in Santa Barbara) and …

Housing recovery hits some areas – top growth in U.S. cities

Metros with the Most Construction Permits in 2011 Houston, TX – 31,271 Dallas, TX – 18,686 Washington, DC – 16,501 New York, NY – 13,973 Austin, TX – 10,239 Los Angeles, CA – 9,895 Phoenix, AZ – 9,081 Seattle, WA – 8,664 Atlanta, GA – 8,634 San Antonio, TX – 7,127 More permits were issued …

Why Amsterdam, Copenhagen are bike friendly cities

“The bicycle was regarded, more than most places in the world — as ‘good for society,’” he writes in an email. “After the bicycle boom in the late 1800s, many cycling clubs merged and then many of them merged again, morphing into cyclist ‘unions’, with political goals. What happened in most countries in the early …

The top 10 cities for travel in 2012 – from Lonely Planet

London Muscat, Oman Bengaluru (Bangalore), India Cádiz, Spain Stockholm, Sweden Guimarães, Portugal Santiago, Chile Hong Kong Orlando, Florida Darwin, Australia A few of the explanations: Bengaluru – The undisputed Elvis of South Asian megacities, Bengaluru is in a class of its own when it comes to redefining flamboyance. Perpetually drunk on the good life, this South …