Utah

Growth is at a standstill in most western boomtowns, but not in well-planned, thriving South Jordan, UT. An expedited permitting process and good planning are given credit as catalysts for growth.

Daybreak is a massive development planned by Peter Calthorpe being built in Utah on land owned by a mining company. Artist Lucy Raven takes her camera for a visit to see how Daybreak is coming along given the soft housing market.

Transit oriented development is having a hard time taking hold in Salt Lake City. Some say the parking preferences of lenders are to blame.

Planners from Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno met this week to discuss plans for high-speed rail between their cities, since they've been left off the map of potential corridors to be funded by the stimulus package.

Officials in Utah have approved plans for a bus rapid transit system between Provo and Orem, which will be the state's first BRT system.

Two new laws in Colorado make legal the formerly prohibited act of collecting rainwater. Other states aren't so lenient.

A private development of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, City Creek Center will be the largest mixed-use project in Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake City has seen its share of foreclosure in its outer suburbs. Local planners and urban planning professors see this as an opportunity to convince locals of the benefits of city living.

Part of a new master plan for Salt Lake County includes prescriptions for new cultural and arts sites distributed throughout the county, providing a blueprint for creating a network of cultural hubs within and around Salt Lake City.

Light rail developers in Utah are cutting costs and timelines with a new and unlikely track base: foam.

Colorado law prohibits the collection of rainwater, but urban farmers, environmentally-conscious homeowners, and even developers are catching on to its benefits and building momentum for the legalization of rainwater harvesting.

Legislators in Utah have approved a bill that would allow the Utah Department of Natural Resources to swap a 3,000 year old Native American village to a group of developers intent on building a new transit station.

Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker is talking about reforming the city's longstanding restrictions on alcohol. Writer Luke Garrett puts in his pitch for relaxed zoning to allow an old-fashioned pub in his neighborhood.

Obama has compared the size of the stimulus package he wants to the 1956 National Highway Act. If the states have their way, it may be just that -- a new highway bill with little left for transit.

The U.S. Census Bureau released its report for the year ending July 1, 2008. It showed that the effect of the recession was to reduce domestic migration from the Northeast and Midwest to the West and Sunbelt. Utah was the fastest growing state.

The people of Salt Lake City have gotten behind the switch to mixed-use, and developers have been clearing away old sprawl. But the flailing economy has put projects on hold, leaving the city with a landscape full of holes.

The Bureau of Land Management hasn't gone through with its plans to auction off leases on land, apparently intended to be explored for oil and gas.