Environment
O.C. Homeowners Sued for Removing Lawn
In Orange, California, city codes require that front yards be 40% landscaping. After considerately adding drought-resistant plants and bark to save water, the city sued an Orange couple.
Intelligent Buildings in the Environment
Through digital displays and environmental sensors, new architecture projects are creating a visual way to monitor environmental conditions in specific places.
Community Gardens Sprout in Seattle
Activists in Seattle have created a community garden on empty land to help provide food for the city's needy.
A Successful "Blue-Green Alliance" At Port Of LA
The single largest source of air pollution in Southern California are the Ports of LA and Long Beach. Environmentalists, environmental justice advocates, and Teamsters are working together to replace offending diesel drayage trucks.
Indonesia Considers New Capital as Jakarta Sinks
As sea levels rise and flooding threatens the foundations on which the city was built, the Indonesian capital of Jakarta is literally sinking into the sea. Now the president is pushing a plan to find a new home for the country's capital.
Learning From Bug Cities
As architects and planners seek to create sustainable buildings and cities, some scientists suggest looking at the intricate home-building of insects.
EPA Plots Plan to Restore Great Lakes
With heavily polluted waters and eroding shorelines, the Great Lakes are undergoing a rapid deterioration in health. The Environmental Protection Agency has unveiled a 5-year plan to restore the lakes.
Sustainable Urban Farming Through Aquaponics
Aquaponics offer urbanites a new way to farm sustainably in space- and resource-poor areas.
Water Diversion Plan Irks Northern Californians
A plan to divert water from Northern California to the state's agricultural heart in the drought-stricken Central Valley has residents and officials on the offensive.
California Plan Would Block Projects From Environmental Lawsuits
California is looking to fast-track a pilot project that would exempt some construction projects from environment-related legal challenges. It's a move aimed at speeding development and creating jobs, but critics say it will harm the environment.
Desertification Threatens 38% of World's Surface
With water in increasing demand and unsustainable land use patterns threatening supplies, a new report claims that nearly 40% of the earth's surface is arid and in danger of desertification.
Best Practices for Water Management
This piece from Urban Re:Vision Magazine looks at a variety of water reuse and stormwater capture projects in cities across the U.S.
The State of Happiness
A new study ranks the U.S. states by residents' happiness. From Louisiana (#1) to New York (#51), the happiest people tend to live in sunny, outdoorsy states with strong quality of life measures.
Initiative Underway To Suspend California's Global Warming Act
California's Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, or AB 32, is known throughout the U.S. as being the landmark state legislation that addresses climate change. It is the target of an initiative that aims to suspend it unless unemployment drops.
Resort Planned in Russian Nature Preserve
Environmentalists in Russia are fuming over plans to construct a resort in the middle of a nature preserve near the 2014 Winter Olympics host city of Sochi.
A Garden in Motor City
Detroit revitalizes urban farming to replace dying industry.
Brazil Approves Controversial Dam
The Brazilian government has approved a new hydroelectric dam in the Amazon. Many locals and environmentalists are fuming.
Water Rights Ruling Puts Thousands of Permits in Question
A recent water rights ruling in Nevada could potentially endanger the validity of nearly 15,000 water rights in the state dating back to 1947. As a result, new applications for water rights are flooding state offices.
Global Warming? It's All About Land Use
In a new report looking at how cities in the American West can fight global warming, the authors conclude that the best strategy is to focus on economic and energy efficiency through smart growth.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
