The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The City of New York has been spending thousands of dollars to send people out of the city -- opting to pay for one-way plane tickets instead of providing social services.

July 30 - The New York Times

BLOG POST

An account of planning for the Red Line Project in Baltimore.

July 29 - Tamika Camille Gauvin

Researchers at the Pew Charitable Trust have found that the neighborhood in which a child is raised is a powerful indicator of adult economic success.

July 29 - The Washington Post

In the first of a series of posts to the NYTimes' Economix Blog, Edward Glaeser explores the value of high-speed rail in the US.

July 29 - Economix Blog: NYTimes

At the Midwest High Speed Rail Summit today in Chicago, an agreement was struck between eight states to work cooperatively to achieve Recovery Act funding to develop the Chicago Hub High Speed Rail Corridor - also called the Midwest corridor.

July 29 - Environmental News Service

Utilities officials in the San Francisco Bay Area are hoping to secure their water resources in the face of another devastating earthquake by building a 5-mile long water tunnel beneath the Bay.

July 29 - San Jose Mercury News

BLOG POST

<p> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">A quick post to note that on Tuesday of last week, Vancouver City Council unanimously approved bylaws to put into place Vancouver&#39;s new &quot;suites within suites&quot; housing option, across the City. Also referred to as &quot;lock-off suites&quot;, these secondary suites within apartments are meant to represent an opportunity for housing flexibility, with such suites usable as a rental mortgage helper (a “mortgage helper in the sky”, as one article puts it), a separated but related unit for an elderly parent or aging teenager, a unit for a care-giver, or any other relationship an apartment owner might need.

July 29 - Brent Toderian

This piece from <em>Worldchanging</em> takes an in-depth look at the competition to redesign metropolitan Paris for the year 2030.

July 29 - WorldChanging

Medical marijuana dispensaries are in high supply in Los Angeles. But without zoning regulations to determine where they should and should not go, the dispensaries are causing some concerns from locals.

July 29 - KCET

Water projects and diversion efforts in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria are draining the marshlands near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, known as the 'Fertile Crescent'.

July 29 - New Scientist

China, South Korea and Japan are all investing teh equivalent of hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy technologies, while the U.S. is debating a mere 1.2 billion in the Waxman-Markey bill.

July 29 - San Francisco Chronicle

A review by John King of Anthony Flint's new book, <em>Wrestling With Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York's Master Builder and Transformed the American City.</em>

July 29 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Author Kurt Andersen's new book describes the last three decades as a period of wanton growth, from homes to waistlines. He sees the economic bust as a way to return sanity and size appropriateness.

July 29 - Boing Boing

The Huffington Post offers a mouth-watering slide show of the top 10 cities for locavores, and asks readers for suggestions of examples they might have missed [Slideshow]

July 28 - Huffington Post

BLOG POST

<p style="text-align: left"> The concept of ripeness in several realms is elusive. I have never figured out how to properly thump a melon at a grocery store, although I have made a thorough study of it. You might want to<a href="http://aces.nmsu.edu/CES/yard/1998/070698.html"> click here</a>, or <a href="http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/2006/08/09/is_a_melon_ripe_for_the_eating_heres_how_to_tell/">here</a>, or <a href="http://www.foodsubs.com/Fruitmel.html">here </a> for some guidance, none of which seems to work when it’s just me in a stare down with a cold, stone faced and silent honeydew. </p> <p style="text-align: left"> Just yesterday one of my younger children from what we call the “second litter” asked me at dinner how I could tell if a coconut was ripe. I paused, realized that I had no answer, and did what every good parent should do and asked instead why they weren’t eating their salad. Yes, attack and divert. </p> <p style="text-align: left"> You think melons and coconuts are tough — try ripeness in land use litigation.

July 28 - Dwight Merriam

Rebuilding is underway in New Orleans. But not with huge conglomerates running the show. Most of the work is being done by non-profits, startups and other community-based organizations.

July 28 - WorldChanging

A fierce battle is brewing over new requirements for sprinklers in homes. Firefighters say the sprinklers are needed, but builders say the Sprinkler Code Coalition is having undue influence on code development.

July 28 - The Center for Public Integrity

Researchers in the U.K. are proposing a plan to utilize streetlamp infrastructure to install traffic monitoring devices in an effort to collect more information and aid transportation planners.

July 28 - EE Times

The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Administration are looking to increase energy efficiency incentives for homeowners, including opportunities for larger home loans.

July 28 - Los Angeles Times

A huge but largely under-noticed portion of public transit money goes to paratransit -- equipment and services to transport disabled people. Now, cheaper alternatives are emerging.

July 28 - Governing