Urban Planning BlogThoughts on Urban Planning and DesignFood Zoning- July 31, 2008 The Los Angeles City Council has passed an ordinance prohibiting construction of new fast-food restaurants in a 32-square-mile area inhabited by 500,000 low-income people. Most will argue against this ban as a denial of food choice to people who can most afford it. Health risks notwithstanding, I too hadn&8217;t expected the U.S. to pass such ...http://urbanplanningblog.com/2008/07/31/food-zoning/ Disaster Preparedness and Voter Response- July 25, 2008 This paper by Andrew Healy PDF link, an economist at Loyola Marymount University concludes that &8220;on average, every $1 spent on disaster mitigation prevents roughly $8 of disaster damage over the following five years&8221; but voters tend to reward disaster response and recovery efforts more as compared to disaster preparedness leading to governments underpreparing for ...http://urbanplanningblog.com/2008/07/25/disaster-preparedness-and-voter-response/ Population Density Range in America- July 24, 2008 The most densely populated block group is one in New York County, New York &8212; 3,240 people in 0.0097 square miles, for about 330,000 per square mile. The least dense is in the North Slope Borough of Alaska &8212; 3 people in 3,246 square miles, or one per 1,082 square miles. The Manhattan block group ...http://urbanplanningblog.com/2008/07/24/population-density-range-in-america/ Racist City in America- July 23, 2008 Sudhir Venkatesh, author of Gang Leader for a Day and occasional blogger at Freakonomics wants to know which is the most racist city in America. the comment thread is rich with suggestions and opinions but I find the question too vague. It is extremely difficult to judge a city&8217;s collective attitude toward racism without actually ...http://urbanplanningblog.com/2008/07/23/racist-city-in-america/ Le Corbusiers Ronchamp Chapel Controversy- July 16, 2008 Anyone remotely interested in modern architecture must have heard of Le Corbusiers chapel of Notre Dame du Haut (1954) in Ronchamp (France). It is one of Le Corbusier&8217;s iconic buildings and is currently in the eye of a storm (in a teacup) with regards to replacement of its visitor&8217;s center to be designed by Renzo ...http://urbanplanningblog.com/2008/07/16/le-corbusiers-ronchamp-chapel-controversy/ |