The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Twenty-two national parks in California will get a portion of $97 million to repair historic buildings, install solar panels, and fix trails.

April 24 - San Francisco Chronicle

The second phase of a rail line extending to Dulles International Airport is slated for completion in December 2016--later than expected--thanks to delays in getting Congressional funding for the first half of the project.

April 24 - The Washington Post

San Francisco residents will get their first peek today at an inventive Internet-based tool that lets them track their personal carbon footprint and gauge how green their neighborhood is compared with the rest of the city.

April 24 - San Francisco Chronicle

Vatican City has plans to build the largest solar plant in Europe, which will supply enough power for 40,000 households in a state of 900 inhabitants.

April 23 - Bloomberg

Flint, Michigan is another ailing city that is considering demolishing entire neighborhoods and returning them to nature as a way to save the rest of the city from blight.

April 23 - The New York Times

New census data released Weds. shows that fewer Americans moved this year than in any year since they started keeping track back in 1947.

April 23 - The New York Times

In order to reduce his carbon footprint, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates is providing an excellent example for all municipal leaders by giving up his car.

April 23 - San Francisco Chronicle

As a developer turned bicycle activist, Brad Knoefler is trying to bring an urban greenway to one of Miami's most blighted neighborhoods. However, a myriad of red tape remains to be cut.

April 23 - Miami Herald

Witold Rybczynski takes a look at the new tendency toward buildings that look collapsible, rather than the solid-looking buildings of the past. Is this trend a symptom of our shaky times?

April 23 - Slate

The ARRA has committed $8 billion to high speed rail. President Obama promised an addition $1 billion per year in future budgets. But how will the money be allocated? How will projects be selected? Details can be found in a new plan from the FRA.

April 23 - Federal Railroad Administration

BLOG POST

<p> Which of these families most needs to plan its family commitments and related budget items? </p> <p> Family 1:  Wife is a bankruptcy lawyer whose business is booming; husband is an executive at a growing wind-energy company and has just received a nice raise, paid out of growing profits.  The kids are grown.  The couple&#39;s two Polish Lowland Sheepdogs are very healthy. </p> <p> Family 2:  Wife is a plant manager for a U.S.-owned automobile company, facing mandatory unpaid time off this year; husband is a travel agent who sells high-end vacation packages to school teachers, planners and other middle-income individuals and families.  Son has graduated from college but cannot find a job and is living at home and working part-time at a burger place.  Daughter will be a college junior next year at an institution that has had its funding cut by the state and has thus announced a 15 percent tuition increase. </p>

April 23 - Eric Damian Kelly

Scientists are taking seriously proposals to artificially and massively change the Earth's ecosystems -- to "geoengineer" the planet -- to put the brakes on climate change.

April 23 - Macleans

With high-profile private-sector clients scaling back prestige projects in the face of the economic downturn, architectural firms are looking instead to institutional clients and retrofitting existing buildings.

April 23 - The Globe and Mail

Last week, with a $4.5 million budget deficit and no development activity, the Petaluma City Council took the drastic step of eliminating its entire planning department.

April 22 - California Planning & Development Report

The Hope for Homeowners Act was designed to allow foreclosed homeowners to keep their homes by drawing up new and more affordable mortgages for qualified applicants. Barney Frank is one of many proclaiming it a failure.

April 22 - NPR

<em>GOOD</em> provides a glimpse of TransMilenio, a Colombian bus rapid transit system and shining example of BRT done right.

April 22 - GOOD Magazine

America's infrastructure isn't as fragile as current media coverage has made it out to be, according to Jack Shafer.

April 22 - Slate

Farm workers are getting laid off and other consumers face strict water use limits. The current drought, exacerbated by environmental restrictions on pumping from the San Joaquin Delta, has made Californians competitive for the resource.

April 22 - The Christian Science Monitor

After years of being unfairly associated with conservatism, auto-dependence should be an issue of concern for all Americans--largely because of what it means to the fabric of their communities.

April 22 - The Witherspoon Institute

This slideshow from <em>New York</em> looks at a handful of residential and office buildings in New York City that have either stalled or completely halted development.

April 22 - New York