Government / Politics
Earth To Planners: Americans Want Roads, Not Transit
The current strategy of encouraging traffic congestion and focusing on transit doesn't align with the majority of American's preferences. Instead of continuing to follow failed policy, planners should start using new solutions to increase capacity.
Rezoning L.A.'s Industrial Bones
Developers want to transform downtown L.A.'s warehouses, factories, and grimy commercial buildings to accommodate live-work spaces. Planners and activists want to stay the course -- they say needed jobs are at stake.
Canada To Penalize SUVs, Reward Hybrids
Canadians shopping for a new car will get a rebate for purchasing hybrids, and a penalty for purchasing a gas-guzzler.
Superstar Cities
Big cities pack a punch equal to some national economies. The fraction of high-income families in superstar cities is 43 percent higher than in average cities, and those cities' share of poor families is 11 percent lower.
China Passes Landmark Property Rights Law
China grants private individuals to own property. Experts say law recognizes power of growing middle class but does not add protections for farmers.
Does America Need A New Robert Moses?
With urban areas across the nation facing increasing challenges, some are wondering if the old style of leadership displayed by New York City's legendary public official is required to actually get things done.
Canada: Urban Country, Rural Governance
The most recent Canadian Census shows that Canada is rapidly urbanizing. Unfortunately, writes Jeffrey Simpson, its systems of government and economic development strategies are stuck in a rural past.
Does Starbucks Belong In The Forbidden City?
One Chinese lawmaker is claiming the coffee chain's outpost in Beijing's Imperial Palace Complex, a venerable symbol of American capitalism, is tainting the national culture that the site represents.
Voters May Get Power Over Comprehensive Plans
The proposed Florida Hometown Democracy constitutional amendment calls for citizens to vote directly on whether to make changes in local comprehensive plans, instead of elected officials advised by professional and citizen planners.
The Great Global Warming Swindle Video?
Is the growing business behind the Global Warming "problem" perpetuating a myth that is becoming politically incorrect to question?
Montana Moving To Limit Eminent Domain
The state legislature is moving to place explicit limits on local government's power to take private land in response to the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court's Kelo ruling.
UNOP Plan Works For New Orleans
Responding to recent criticism, Robert B. Olshansky and Lewis D. Hopkins, professors of urban and regional planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, argue that the United New Orleans Plan gets a lot more things right than wrong.
Miami's Public Housing Debacle
With a federal takeover of the city's housing authority underway, the fallout from the investigation into the agency's misdealings is expected to call for dramatic changes in government policy towards low-income housing.
Does The Trans-Texas Corridor Have A Future?
Plans for the construction of several mega-highway and rail corridors across Texas are facing growing opposition.
China May Establish Private Property Rights
A new law facing the National People's Congress of China looks to put in place massive land reform in the country that would essentially establish the right to private property. This legislation has been pushed forward by the central government.
In Oregon, Both Owls and Public Libraries Are Endangered
With the end of a federal subsidy intended to soften the blow to rural forest economies, an entire public library system in Oregon is being shut down.
Watchdog Group Rips New Orleans Plan
The independent Bureau of Governmental Research finds the Unified New Orleans Plan "fails to deliver a cohesive, workable road map for recovery."
A Proposal: Selling The Idea Of Congestion Pricing To Cities
A soon-to-be released journal article explains how congestion pricing might work in the US: Revenue would be distributed to cities through which the freeways pass.
New Orleans Files $77 Billion Claim Against Army Corps Of Engineers
As the deadline to file claims came to a close, the city of New Orleans was among thousands to submit a claim indicating they would sue the Army Corps of Engineers for damage caused by levee breaches. The city's claim totals more than $77 billion.
London's Bold Plan For Greenhouse Gas Reductions Unveiled
Mayor Livingstone set forth a bold, detailed plan to reduce London's greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2025. However, many sectors are outside the city's scope, such as an increase aviation emissions, and a nationwide price on the carbon pollution.
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.
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
