California Planning & Development Report

North Carolina bills itself as the "good growth state." But as North Carolina's population heads toward 10 million, the state's low-density pattern of development is straining the infrastructure.

There is very, very little new housing construction in most of California, where the number of housing starts is down 75% from the boom year of 2005. One result is layoffs for planners, building inspectors and plan checkers.

Despite planners' love-hate relationship with it, Las Vegas is a hotbed of great city-making, according to this post from California Planning and Development Report.

The Sacramento region has become a national model for smart growth planning. But what, asks Bill Fulton, will it take to make the region sustainable for decades to come?

Public officials and scientists are starting to say that adaptation to climate change is just as important as trying to stem climate change. One way to adapt is to embrace smart growth principles that reduce energy usage, according to this article.

California water quality regulators continue to levy ever-tougher standards for stormwater runoff. But the standards could impact development and cities in a way that is not best for the environment at large.

California's redevelopment agencies are feeling pressure on numerous fronts these days. Some may go out of business next year. Still, state lawmakers are considering giving the agencies authority to buy out subprime mortgages.

Twenty years ago, Los Angeles voters chose Tom Bradley's "world city" vision over a slow-growth councilman's carping about overdevelopment. Voters may face the same choice - and one of the same candidates - in 2009.

Although Tucson has only about 6 percent of the population of metropolitan Los Angeles, residents of the Arizona city fear California-style sprawl and water problems. So where are Tucson residents looking for answers? That's right, California.

Alaska's "bridge to nowhere" would really be a bridge to sprawl -- and that's why it'll be a crucial issue in the upcoming Senate re-election campaign of 84-year-old Ted Stevens against Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.

The largest estuary in the West, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, has been in trouble for many years. Yet policy-makers have been unable or unwilling to undertake major projects. That may change in 2008.

An old Navy base presents the San Francisco suburb of Alameda with a great opportunity. However, a long-standing city policy that prohibits high-density development could quash that opportunity.

California's Central Valley is a distinctive place - a farm belt with many small towns featuring classic downtowns. California Planning & Development Report rates the best of these downtowns.

Is a statewide cap on driving in the works? Bill Fulton says a regional driving limit may be the only way that California is able to reach its self-imposed mandates for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Former California Governor Jerry Brown, now the state's attorney general, is vowing to sue cities and counties that do not take climate change into consideration during general plan updates.

The fate of industrial properties is the subject of a huge, ongoing battle in Los Angeles. City planners and economic development boosters want to prevent conversions to residential uses — much to the consternation of free-market advocates.

California Planning and Development Report's Morris Newman looks at the land use issue that caused the break-up of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former TV news reporter Mirthala Salinas.

John Parr was one of the few people who could get narrow-minded local politicians, neighborhood organizers and business leaders to work together for the regional good. Tragically, Parr died in a highway crash just before Christmas.

The sudden end to a hot housing market and planners' response to climate change were the top land use stories of 2007, according to California Planning & Development Report.

The late Larry Livingston became known in planning circles and elsewhere as "Mr. Open Space." But, Bill Fulton writes, the tag was based on a misunderstanding of a fiscal analysis he prepared regarding housing development in a particular city.