Government / Politics

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to tax parking downtown is not the solution to a regional problem primarily affecting highways, the industry says.

November 3, 2011 - Chicago Tribune

According to preliminary reports on the new business plan, the California High Speed Rail Authority's new estimate for the 800-mile system will be $98.5 billion - initially pegged at $43 billion, and will take an additional 13 years to build.

November 2, 2011 - Los Angeles Times

On Tuesday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority announced that the cost of the project has tripled to nearly $99 billion, and federal funds for it don't exist yet--prompting some legislators' support to fizzle.

November 2, 2011 - San Jose Mercury News

After 34 years on the California Coastal Commission, Peter Douglas is ceding his post due to poor health. The San Jose Mercury News looks back at his long career at the powerful public agency.

November 1, 2011 - San Jose Mercury News

The Prince of Wales, as covered here and elsewhere, has gotten a reputation for using his position to meddle in architecture and planning decisions in the U.K. The report now is he extends that power far deeper into U.K. politics.

November 1, 2011 - The Guardian U.K.

A.O. Scott reviews the final installment of Gary Hustwit's design trilogy, "Urbanized," and concludes that even those with a deep knowledge of urban planning are likely to learn something from the carefully selected images and interviews.

October 31, 2011 - The New York Times

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that HBO is working with Oliver Stone on a biopic of New York's famous master planner.

October 31, 2011 - The Atlantic

In response to the Occupy Wall Street movement the staff at Salon.com have brainstormed a "New Declaration of Independence" for guiding the United States into a more progressive future.

October 31, 2011 - Salon.com

Do you want your transportation dollars spent on the National Corvette Museum, turtle tunnels, giant roadside coffee pots, restoration of Battleship Texas? These are some of the "tall tales" being spun by Republicans about the transportation bill.

October 31, 2011 - Huffington Post

The passage by the PA state senate of a bill allowing Pittsburgh and other cities to use red light traffic enforcement cameras has drawn a strong warning and a study from Penn Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) to only use them for safety purposes

October 30, 2011 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Created in 2003, a pact between rural Imperial Valley to provide water to San Diego has become mired in litigation due to its potential effects on the Salton Sea. But just nixing the deal isn't so easy, as Tony Perry reports.

October 30, 2011 - Los Angeles Times

Last week, local officials announced that the troubled city's largest employers, including three hospitals and a university, will begin offering incentives to lure workers into buying homes in the area. Geoff Mulvihill reports.

October 30, 2011 - Chicago Tribune

At the Urban Land Institute conference this week, Donald Bren, Chairman of the Irvine Company, cites lack of capital and government and environmental regulation as reasons for this.

October 29, 2011 - Bloomberg

Urban planning professors from the University of Kansas suggest that televising community meetings and using techniques from reality TV could significantly increase participation.

October 28, 2011 - Journal Of The American Planning Association

In fact, that's putting it positively, as the battle may already have been lost according to House Transportation Chair John Mica. Enhancements, most of which fund pedestrian and bicyle projects, may become voluntary rather than a requirement.

October 28, 2011 - The Washington Post

Blair Kamin uses Columbus, Ohio's retail development on the Cap at Union Station as a success story. What can Chicago learn from this design strategy that at once addresses economic development and the enrichment of the cityscape?

October 28, 2011 - Chicago Tribune

Public participation is an important part of the urban planning process, says Michael Hooper, as "it improves project outcomes and the likelihood of project success." But lately, some prominent people are saying that it hinders the planning process.

October 27, 2011 - Next American City

In occupied cities across North America, sanitation and noise concerns, as well as conflicts over scheduled public uses of parks, are leading to official efforts to end the protests.

October 27, 2011 - Winnipeg Free Press

The New York City Department of City Planning wants to place maximums in the Manhattan core, but there's just one problem: its own two-year-old parking study. Noah Kazis reports on the faulty arguments against reform.

October 27, 2011 - Streetsblog New York City

The government plans to build 24 industrial cities that stretch from New Delhi to Mumbai for a corridor bigger in land size than Japan, write Matthias Williams and Lyndee Prickitt for Reuters.

October 26, 2011 - Reuters