United States, California

To protect the endangered Delta Smelt fish, pumping of water from California's Sacramento Delta has been drastically cut back. Add in the state's three-year-long drought, and the result is a major problem for the state's people and farmers.

A collection of non-profits working with HUD is promising to spend $4 billion on updating affordable housing across the country to be more sustainable.

GOOD Magazine highlights designer Michael McDaniel's Reaction Housing System, a temporary shelter that can be stacked up and loaded onto a flatbed 20 at a time.

The National Academy of Science has released a report showing that health effects from burning fossil fuels cost the economy about $120 billion a year. Global warming was not included due to uncertainty, so it's focused mostly on air pollution.

So says William Schroeer the State Policy Director at Smart Growth America, speaking at the High Speed Rail Conference in D.C. last weekend.

Jacobs' ideas about urban planning bumped her to the top of her Top Urban Thinkers list, but economists are turning to her other books to rethink local economies.

What does Main Street America look like today? A journalist, a public radio producer, and two Harvard PhD students set out to visit actual Main Streets across the country to find out.

"Cash for Clunkers" was upside-down and wrong-headed, rewarding bad behavior rather than punishing it, says Libertarian Richard A. Epstein.

Edward M. Czuker is known for building bold developments. Residents of Playa del Ray are concerned about what his latest project will look like in their neighborhood.

American cities are struggling to figure out how to transition formerly industrial areas to become vibrant and successful parts of the city once again. Neal Peirce says they should look to Barcelona, which accomplished it ten years ago.

PG&E CEO Peter Darbee says that it wouldn't take very many all-electric cars to create a serious drain on local power generators.

The problems facing urban America can be exemplified by looking at the city of Las Vegas, according to this piece from the Brookings Institution's Mark Muro.

A recent move that exempted a proposed Southern California football stadium's plans from environmental review may turn out to be precedent-setting for other cities looking to revamp their sports arenas.

The federal government has dedicated $8 billion to high speed rail projects. But with $50 billion worth of proposals, the challenge lies in how best to divide the funds.

NY MTA Head Jay Walder is considering lowering fares for off-peak hours riders in order to encourage people to change their habits.

With one of the smallest and busiest airports in the country, San Diego is thinking about upgrading its facilities. One idea is to build a new airport on the ocean.

The Port of Long Beach has settled with the American Trucking Association to clean up its air, while the Port of Los Angeles is waiting to reach more comprehensive changes.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that allows developers of a planned football stadium in Southern California to bypass environmental laws and speed up the planning process.

A Stanford professor and a UC Davis researcher say we could make the switch to 100% renewable energy by 2030... if we really want to.