Europe
This piece from the New York Times looks at a program in Italy the encourages children to walk to school.
The New York Times
Nine-month study commissioned by President Nicolas Sarkozy aims to transform Paris and its surrounding suburbs into the first sustainable “post-Kyoto" city.
The New York Times
In the next few months, the Dutch capital will make numerous changes to make its infrastructure greener. With the help of private companies like Cisco and IBM, Amsterdam is closer to becoming a "smart city" than any other in Europe.
BusinessWeek
In the latest episode of his podcast, James Howard Kunstler provides commentary on the urbanism of Paris. By following along with Google Street View, you can walk the streets and see what he sees.
KunstlerCast
Good green jobs are on the way - just not right away due to recession. Stimulus funds - not just from U.S. but many nations are investing in their economies by targeting renewable energy, smart electricity grids, energy efficiency, and more.
Financial Times - Business & The Environment
Stockholm is seeking bids for a redesign of its city center, and the five plans in contention all seek to fix the damage wrought by modernist planning.
The New York Times
CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) is an abbreviation that may become more common if the coal industry has its way. But The Economist argues that carbon taxes are a better way to improve the environment than investing in CCS technology.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Though challenged with facing a multi-tiered government, Nicholas Sarkozy has nonetheless devised one of the most ambitious plans ever for Paris. To reimagine this bolder, greener "Grand Paris," he has put 10 teams of architects and planners to work.
AFP
The $8 billion in stimulus funds allocated to high speed rail marks a turning point in a road-airport dominated U.S. transportation network, but the politics of allocating the funds may prevent results needed to showcase HSR.
Washington Post
Half a year after the area erupted in violence, the South Ossetia region of Georgia is struggling to rebuild.
International Herald Tribune
The economic recession is hard to notice in Berlin. The German capital has struggled economically for years and continues to.
Der Spiegel
No one expects the $8 billion to build any one single high-speed-rail system in the U.S. But the U.S., with its vast distances and low gas prices, is not Europe or Asia, and some question whether the investment will produce any substantial results.
The Boston Globe
As air travel security tightens and high speed rail expands, getting in and around Spain is becoming easier on the rails than in the sky.
NPR
The Christian Science Monitor editorializes in support of the VMT fee replacing the gas tax just as the latest federal transportation financing commission report recommends, as Oregon Governor Kulongoski hopes to do, and as some will do in Europe.
The Christian Science Monitor
Residents in Venice, Italy, are upset over a plan by the city to accept a $2.7 million subsidy from Coca Cola in exchange for placement of soda machines throughout the historic city.
BBC
A BBC story on Paris's groundbreaking bike-share system greatly exaggerates the threat posed by theft and vandalism.
Streetsblog
Theft and vandalism have crippled the citywide bike rental system in Paris, leaving operator JCDecaux uncertain of the increasingly expensive program's future.
BBC
Following similar discoveries of fraud in the U.S., the Italian government has uncovered a scheme to increase local revenues by artificially shortening yellow lights.
BBC News
This three-part series from the <em>BBC</em> looks at bicycles in the modern world -- from Paris to Uganda to India.
BBC
According to sources in Europe, the Obama Administration has sought advice from European Union officials about emulating the EU's infrastructure bank.
The Independent
