The Los Angeles Times recently had a story about the collapse of Solyndra – the once heralded poster-child of the Obama administration’s green jobs plan. A big part of Solyndra’s demise was due to the rapidly falling price of their competitors’ solar panels. In 2008, the cost of solar panels was a bit over $4 for each watt generated. Solyndr
Land Use
A Profile of the Most Conservative Zip Code in Texas
Highland Park, ZIP code 75205, represents the top of the 1% in Texas, and is the most enthusiastically Republican community in the country.
Mother Jones
Diagnosing Sprawl...in 1959
A prophetic film from 1959 offers a diagnosis of the causes and emerging challenges associated with what came to be known as urban sprawl.
ULI via You Tube
Walmart Talks Sustainability, But Keeps Sprawling
Walmart talks big about climate action, but its land-use strategy is anything but climate-friendly: It builds massive new stores on virgin land in sprawling areas, then abandons them in favor of still newer, still bigger stores, says Stacy Mitchell.
Grist
Struggling Centers Revitalized With New Tenants
With the increasing popularity of online shopping, many shopping centers are losing retailers left and right. More unusual tenants are filling in the gaps, like gun ranges and bounce houses.
The Wall Street Journal
For Two Days Only TWA Terminal Re-Opens Its Doors
In 2001, Eero Saarinen's famed TWA Terminal in John F. Kennedy International Airport closed after American Airlines bought the airline out. Completed in 1962, this terminal is now rarely accessible by the public.
BBC
First Community To Offer Government-Sponsored Bike Sharing System
In Washington, D.C., Capital Bikeshare just celebrated its "1st Birthday Bash" according to Coleen Gentles.
City Parks Blog
A foray by HUD into telling small towns how best to use their land
Sat, 10/01/2011 - 10:06
In April 2009, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan spoke to the ULI
Spring Council Forum in Atlanta; he stated that his administration’s goal was
“to put the UD back in HUD,” and explained that HUD’s over-reliance on housing
solutions wasn’t helping cities address their complex revitalization needs. Just over two years later, this small new funding program
caught my eye on a list of new HUD announcements:
*** HUD HOPE VI – $0.5 million
Application Due: August 22, 2011
Eligible Entities: Local governments
Rahul Mehrotra Talks Indian Urban Planning
Rahul Mehrotra talks to The Hindu about sustainable cities, community participation, and infrastructure. The article also has a review of his most recent book "Architecture in India Since 1990."
The Hindu
Berlin Wall Site Now a Hot Neighborhood
The Berlin Wall was constructed 50 years ago by Communist East Germany. Parts of the wall remain as a remembrance, but much of the area has been transformed into hip neighborhoods and parks.
NPR
Atlanta's Beltline Has Long Road to Ideal Smart Growth Model
The Atlanta Beltline Partnership's annual report shows how revitalization programs, workforce housing, parks and trails have been blossoming. Yet transit development has lagged behind, reports Kaid Benfield for The Atlantic.
The Atlantic
Connecting Residents With Services in Abu Dhabi Master Plan
The revitalization master plan for two older neighborhoods in Abu Dhabi includes creating "new roads, clinics, schools, police stations and neighborhood centers" and making them easily accessible to residents.
The National
How the Other Half Lives in Hong Kong
For a city of over 16,000 people per square mile, less than 7% of Hong Kong's land is designated for residential use. Subdivided apartments - aka "coffin units" - totaling 150 square feet aren't uncommon, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The Wall Street Journal
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Land Use Impacts On Travel: Current State of Knowledge
Mon, 07/18/2011 - 05:48
As discussed in my previous column, An Inaccurate Attack On Smart Growth, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) sponsored a research program intended to raise doubts about smart growth’s ability to reduce vehicle travel, conserve energy and reduce pollution emissions.
Santa Monica's Ambitious Plan For 'No Net New Car Trips'
Beachside Santa Monica recently launched an ambitious Land Use and Circulation Element, which will balance growth, neighborhoods, and traffic. The plan has received accolades, and the city has become a model for consensus-based planning.
The Planning Report
The Challenge of Long-Term Planning
The sometimes decades-long gap between cause and effect makes it difficult to reverse long-standing transportation & planning policies, says Ben Brown.
PlaceShakers
Music Gives New Life to Brownfield
A lakefront steel plant on Chicago's South Side that has been abandoned since 1992 is the venue of the Dave Matthew's Caravan July music festival.
Chicago Tribune
The Federal Role in Supporting Urban Manufacturing
Revitalizing American manufacturing is widely-acknowledged as vital to our country’s economic recovery and long-term prosperity, but it is equally essential to understand the changing of this sector in order to make smart policy decisions.
Brookings Institution/Pratt Center for Community Development
New York's Zoning Needs An Update
On the 50th Anniversary of New York City's 1961 Zoning Resolution, President of the Municipal Art Society of New York Vin Cipolla argues that New York "needs a new zoning resolution for a new era."
Crain's NY
A Night At Arcosanti
George Haugh describes his visit to Arcosanti in the summer of 2010. A town conceived, designed and built by the charismatic Italian architect Paolo Soleri in Arizona. It is the largest example of Arcology in practice: Soleri's theory of miniaturized and complex human environments designed to utilize the surrounding ecology for building materials while simultaneously minimizing human impact upon them.
