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The Planetizen News Brief - 10/1/09

1 October 2009 - 5:00am
Smart City Radio

The Planetizen News Brief is a weekly rundown of some of the most interesting and important news and issues of the past week.

The Planetizen News Brief airs every week on the nationally-syndicated radio program "Smart City", which is broadcast in cities across the U.S. Learn more about Smart City and listen to archived shows.

Full Transcript

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and some people feel fine. They’re fine because the World we’re talking about here seemed almost too extravagant to really exist. It was a set of artificial islands being constructed off the coast of Dubai to resemble a map of the world, but the project has been halted. According to a recent article from the Times, the credit crunch has brought an end to development on the islands, many of which now sit empty in the waters of the Persian Gulf. Some reports claim that development may still continue on the islands, most of which had been sold off by developer Nakheel to a number of smaller development groups. Though construction of the islands themselves is pretty much complete, it’s not clear if or when anything will be built upon them.

Meanwhile, out in New Jersey, environmental groups are sounding the alarm over a series of bills moving their way through the state legislature that could have a huge impact on the way land is planned and developed. The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that environmental groups are blasting the legislation, which they say threatens the ability of local officials to control land use decisions and enforce the state’s environmental protection rules. The Sierra Club, Environment New Jersey and the New Jersey Environmental Federation are among those opposed. One of the bills would reportedly enable the appointment of a state planning czar who could stop or change any environmental protection rules to ease the approval of development projects. Proponents of the bills say there’s no sneaky motives here, and that the bills are simply intended to help lure business to the struggling state. And though many of the bills have yet to be formally introduced, they’re expected to hit the state legislature this Fall.

Finally, a new report has found more to like about green roofs. According to the results of a study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, green roofs can play an even more effective role in sequestering carbon dioxide emissions and counteracting global warming than previously thought. The study found that if an urban area the size of Detroit with a population of 1 million people were to replace all it’s rooftops with planted green roofs, the structures could eliminate the same amount of carbon dioxide emitted by 10,000 SUVs over the course of a year. That’s about 55,000 tons of carbon emissions. Though it’s not likely that entire cities will be topped with green roofs any time soon, the study does raise the idea. What if they were?

Stories discussed in this week's Planetizen News Brief

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If hundreds of people in your community raised reasonable concerns about a planning program you developed, how would you respond? Perhaps you might call a community meeting, or ask community elected officials to reach out to community leaders.
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