Asia-Pacific

China, Japan, other South East Asian countries, Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Islands countries.

Bicycles Disappearing From Asia

Researchers in Asia are warning that unless governments start to make their urban planning policies more bicycle-friendly, bikes could virtually disappear from the urban environment within a decade.

November 18, 2008 - The Jakarta Post

Planners Look Back as Another Burnham Centennial Approaches

Besides Chicago, another Daniel Burnham-planned city is turning 100. Baguio City in the Philippines will turn 100 in 2009, and local planners are trying to apply urban reform elements from Burnham's original plan in time for the celebration.

November 15, 2008 - Philippine Daily Inquirer

China's Rail Investment Needs Pricing Reform

As China embarks on the greatest rail-building investment since the U.S. built its transcontinental railroad, this article points to the urgent need to reform its state-controlled pricing system, both for freight and passengers, to make it effective.

November 11, 2008 - Business Week

Op-Ed: Russia's Health Crisis Belies Its Economic Success

Russia's economic transformation due to its oil wealth is well-known, but not so the state of its public health which shows an alarming contrasting picture.

October 28, 2008 - The New York Times

Leafy Skyscraper Going Up in Singapore

Construction on architects TR Hamzah & Yeang's EDITT Building (Ecological Design in the Tropics) is underway in Singapore

October 21, 2008 - World Construction

Friday Funny: Divorcing Couple Cut House in Two

40 years of marriage was apparently too many, as a man in Cambodia cut his home in two, moving his half to his parents' property.

October 17, 2008 - CNN

Friday Funny: Cat Key to Town's Economic Development

A stray cat born and raised at a Japanese train station has been named its official stationmaster -- and become a tourist attraction that's successfully boosted the local economy by more than $10 million.

October 10, 2008 - AFP

Cambodian Cool

The Cambodian city of Siem Reap is a hotbed of tourist activity -- and of tacky hotels. Many say this sprawl of hotels is a major problem in the city, but new designs are making the city a cooler place to visit and live.

September 13, 2008 - The Phnom Penh Post

Tokyo's Robotic High-Tech Bike Parking

Tokyo finds solution to commuter bicycle parking shortage by building high-tech robotic garages.

September 8, 2008 - The Washington Post

Hong Kong Sprawls Into the Ocean

One man's personal quest to save the beauty of Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor from rampant development.

September 4, 2008 - The Christian Science Monitor

A Big Idea: Solar-Powered Cargo Ships

Toyota has hired two firms to build solar panels to augment the diesel engines on their car-carrying behemoths. The result will be a cut in CO2 emissions of 1 to 2 percent per year, or about 20 tons.

September 4, 2008 - Wired

'Hotel of Doom' Resumes Construction in Pyongyang

After a 16-year hiatus, construction has resumed on a gigantic North Korean hotel that some architects and engineers fear is so poorly built that it will never be occupied.

July 26, 2008 - The Globe & Mail

Will Your Bank Card and Bus Pass Become One?

MarketWatch reports on the rise of contactless smart cards in public transit and banking, and speculates that the time is ripe to put the two uses on the same card.

July 21, 2008 - Marketwatch

Living in a Zero-Waste City

In Kamikatsu, Japan, waste is not a problem -- mainly because new policies practically forbid it. But citizens have adapted to their new zero-waste lifestyle.

July 15, 2008 - BBC

A Train That Never Stops

A Taiwanese inventor is proposing a rail system that never stops for passengers, virtually eliminating delays. Follow the full story link to see the video.

June 19, 2008 - boingboing.net

A Laser Light Show in the Crosswalk

Will laser-projected pedestrians make crossing the street safer in South Korea?

May 30, 2008 - Streetsblog

Capitalism Sprawls Into Russia's Frozen Expanse

American-style malls are cropping up in Siberia, and gobbling up land, to enable once-isolated Russians to consume in ways that might have been unimaginable a generation ago.

May 20, 2008 - The New York Times

New Zealand to Re-Nationalize Rail and Ferry Services

In the mid-1980s New Zealand sold its national rail assets to private industry in hopes of developing a profitable, efficient rail network. With deteriorating infrastructure and a desire for greener transit, the government has decided to buy it back.

May 5, 2008 - The New Zealand Herald

A Cup of Coffee and A Calico, Please

"Cat cafes" are popping up all over Tokyo, giving patrons the company of a cat -- without the burden of actually owning one. There are at least seven cat cafes in Tokyo.

April 27, 2008 - The Christian Science Monitor

The Island of Garbage

This 12-part video series from Vice gives a gritty look at the Texas-sized patch of plastic flotsam that has formed in the Pacific Ocean -- and the global environmental and health hazards it presents.

April 25, 2008 - VBS

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Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Websites

The best of the Internet—since 2002.

Top Apps

Planning apps for a brave new world.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.