Blogging by Opinion Leaders






Carfree Design Manual -- Todd Litman

New Books Depict Car Culture at a Turning Point -- Michael Dudley

Why not rail? -- Diana DeRubertis

In Olympic year, Vancouver chooses LEEDâ„¢ Gold for private buildings! -- Brent Toderian

Taming the Office Park -- Michael Lewyn
Vision Survives Public Process in Berkeley
John King is surprised to find that a bold plan for a public space has somehow squeaked through the Berkeley, CA planning process in an area between BART and campus.
The San Francisco Chronicle
Canada Housing Prices Return to Pre-Recession Peak
What housing slump? Canada's real estate recovery has been so fast, some analysts worry it signals a return to speculation.
Wall Street Journal
Americans Buying Less, Doing More
Americans are starting to value experiences over things, according to a new poll. Nearly half of Americans report spending less time purchasing non-essential goods, while many are spending more time on friends, family, and hobbies.
New York Times
New High-Speed Rail in China
A new 350kph train connecting Zhengzhou and Xi'an debuted Saturday, cutting a 6 hour train ride down to less than 2 hours.
China Daily
Complaints Grow Over Increasing "Ugliness" of Paris
A press conference was held in Paris to draw attention to the problem of "increasingly large and unsympathetic buildings" cropping up around the City of Lights.
INTBAU News
Florida Amendment Could Shake Up Local Planning
Florida voters are facing an amendment this November that could dramatically reshape the way local planning occurs.
St. Petersburg Times
The State of Happiness
A new study ranks the U.S. states by residents' happiness. From Louisiana (#1) to New York (#51), the happiest people tend to live in sunny, outdoorsy states with strong quality of life measures.
USA Today
Transportation On Parade
Washington County, Utah invites the public once a year to see what transportation projects are in the works and talk to planners and engineers. The meet-and-greet has proved highly popular and a way for information to flow both ways.
The Spectrum and Daily News
Is Walkscore A Useful Planning Tool?
The online walkability tool is sexy but not perfect. Real estate site are beginning to use it; could planners use it too? Bill Fulton gives his two cents.
California Planning & Development Report
DOT, HUD and EPA All Trumpet Smart Growth
Anthony Flint reports from the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference, where the Feds all spoke about coordinating at the federal level to implement smart growth policies.
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy blog
Tiki Preservation
The Royal Hawaiian Estates, a tiki-themed apartment complex built in 1962, was designated an historic district by the City of Palm Springs.
The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)
The Mormon Church Backs Mixed-Use Project
City Creek Center is a $1 billion mixed-use development project that some say is a godsend for downtown Salt Lake City, creating jobs during a tough economy. Others wonder how the church's influence will play out in the culture of the project.
The New York Times
Decay in Suburbia
Fast Company pulls together a handful of recent reports to paint a grim picture for the suburbs, as the number of people living in poverty rises, housing values decline, and infrastructure built in the 60s and 70s erodes.
Fast Company
How Bill's Hotel Room Saved Some Trees
Bill Fulton was prepping for a panel on transferrable development rights programs for last weekend's New Partners for Smart Growth conference in Seattle when he realized the hotel he was in was the beneficiary of just such a program.
California Planning & Development Report
Initiative Underway To Suspend California's Global Warming Act
California's Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, or AB 32, is known throughout the U.S. as being the landmark state legislation that addresses climate change. It is the target of an initiative that aims to suspend it unless unemployment drops.
Los Angeles Times
NYC's "Bus of the Future" Debuts On Bronx BRT Route
What's good for the Bronx turns out to be good for upstate NY. In this case, a Plattsburgh bus manufacturer has received the first orders for what is promoted as the "bus of the future of NYC transit": 3-doors, articulated, low-floor, & low emission.
Second Ave. Sagas
Resort Planned in Russian Nature Preserve
Environmentalists in Russia are fuming over plans to construct a resort in the middle of a nature preserve near the 2014 Winter Olympics host city of Sochi.
Der Spiegel
Saving Money By Converting Asphalt to Gravel
In an effort to cut transportation maintenance costs, some cities are ditching their asphalt roads and going back to gravel.
USA Today
The Poverty Beneath the Rings
Vancouver is playing host to the Winter Olympics beginning later this week. It's a city admired across North America. But it's also home to a pocket of severe poverty and homelessness.
The New York Times
Policy Confusion Over Food Trucks
Food trucks are becoming an increasingly visible part of streetlife in many cities, but few have figured out how to deal with them from a policy standpoint.
The City Fix



























30 min 11 sec ago
2 hours 30 min ago
2 hours 46 min ago
3 hours 1 min ago
3 hours 22 min ago
7 hours 53 min ago
9 hours 16 min ago
9 hours 21 min ago
17 hours 30 min ago
23 hours 15 min ago