Government / Politics

New Urban News looks at the growing influence of New Urbanists and their ideas in Washington, from the appointment of former CNU director Shelley Poticha to a HUD position to the new Livable Communities Act proposed by Sen. Christopher Dodd.

Work has been hard to find for many architects over the last year. But for architects doing federal work, the story is a bit different.

As city and state budgets tighten, town in New Jersey are looking to join forces and share services.

In an effort to give themselves more time to pay for it, transit officials in Charlotte may delay an 11-mile light rail extension for six years.

Achieving sustainability can take one of two paths, according to Richard Carson: centralized or decentralized policy. Choosing one will be crucial.

Christopher Hume talks to Joe Berridge, a Toronto planner who has been appointed to Britain's Commission on Architecture and the Built Environment, about the power of urban design.

This investigation from The New York Times examines water pollution records from across the country and finds more than half a million violations that are causing deadly pollution to local water resources.

Joel Kotkin explains why the Obama Administration's focus on transit is wrong-headed and doesn't do anything for the majority of Americans.

Texas officials are calling on the federal government to ditch plans to build a pedestrian fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, arguing the fence will not stop illegal crossing.

Landfills produce a lot of methane gas, one of the main greenhouse gases contributing to global warming. In an effort to both reduce that impact and responsibly reuse the gas, some municipalities are converting it into energy.

The Los Angeles Times has mapped the city's medical marijuana dispensaries, and found many that fall within a proposed buffer that would keep the outlets away from schools, parks and libraries.

San Francisco's notoriously congested Market Street will soon see a lighter load of traffic, as officials roll out a pilot project that will ban private vehicles from the roadway.

New York City has for decades collected data about itself through more than 2,500 statistical indicators. But now, that number has been chopped down to about 1,200. Officials say it creates a streamlined look at the city, but others call it a loss.

Seattle is in the midst of a mayoral election, and while typical election issues are getting their own share of lip service from the candidates, land use is being overlooked.

In an otherwise stalled local economy, a few new construction projects are underway in Michigan, thanks to new tax incentives that are drawing the film industry to the state.

Mohamed Atta, one of the 9/11 terrorists, pursued a masters degree in city planning before the attacks. Slate's Daniel Brooks reads Atta's masters thesis, and finds a strain of anti-Western modernism that is revealing.

Why the decision to host the next G-20 summit in Steel City is a good one.

The Honolulu City Council is considering a bill that will make it illegal to bring "odors that unreasonably disturb others" onto the bus.

Water saver or environmental hazard? Questions are compounding about artificial turf as more homeowners ditch their grass for fake lawns. Contradicting city policies muddy the issue in the arid Southwest.