The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>This video from <em>Streetfilms</em> shows and explains the workings of Bogota, Colombia's bus rapid transit system -- one of the world's most highly regarded systems.</p>

January 28 - Streetsblog

<p>Troubled by allegations of fraud by a former CEO, and weighted down by trillions of dollars in possibly worthless mortgage-backed securities, Fannie Mae may also be the victim of a federal agenda of privatization, writes Scott Thill.</p>

January 28 - AlterNet

<p>Many rural prisons have become a mainstay for the economies of the small communities where they are located, and closing them can prove devastating to the local economy, creating long-term problems far beyond the loss of prison jobs.</p>

January 28 - The New York Times

<p>San Francisco's Sixth Street has been decidedly run-down for years. But redevelopment efforts -- including the likely seizure of a vacant and historic hotel building -- may be changing the face of the street for the better.</p>

January 28 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>Members of the Dena'ina Athabascan tribe, completely surrounded by metropolitan Anchorage, struggle to preserve their language and culture.</p>

January 28 - The Christian Science Monitor

<p>A private developer has proposed the world's longest highway tunnel, running more than 16 miles under the Long Island Sound in New York.</p>

January 28 - Associated Press

<p>Housing is a hot commodity in New Orleans, but many homes still sit vacant. Getting people into these vacant homes is proving to be a major challenge for the city.</p>

January 28 - The New York Times

<p>Despite County and municipal comprehensive plans that advocate for higher density new development in targeted growth areas, neighbors have strongly opposed the creation of a zoning amendment that would allow a development of 3,000 homes on 300 acres.</p>

January 28 - Lancaster (PA) Sunday News

BLOG POST

As technology becomes more an integral part of planning and public outreach around planning, the need for a “creative touch” becomes increasingly important. While technology can increase the quality and quantity of public input, it can also diminish the quality of human interaction and creativeness. As we look for technologies that engage citizens, we also need to find ways to utilize art materials, maps and other visuals, and encourage storytelling.<br />

January 27 - Ken Snyder

<p>Momentum is growing for 24 hour transit in Edmonton, Alberta - an idea backed by students, business officials, and the Transit Riders' Union of Edmonton. City officials say it's inevitable, but is at least a couple years away.</p>

January 27 - The Edmonton Sun

<p>In this piece from <em>Reason</em> Samuel Staley argues that the housing crisis can't be fully blamed for the economic recession.</p>

January 27 - Reason

<p>Officials in Edmonton are considering a ban on any new drive through windows at fast food restaurants in an effort to curb emissions from idling cars.</p>

January 27 - The Edmonton Sun

<p>Quite a few Ohio suburbs are planning to resurrect their old downtowns -- or build new ones from scratch -- to create human-scaled urban focal points.</p>

January 27 - The Columbus Dispatch

<p>Despite making energy poverty a major domestic policy focus, the British government is being accused of underfunding its program, just as the number of homes living in energy poverty is at its highest level in almost a decade.</p>

January 27 - The Guardian (UK)

<p>Young people in New Zealand aren't taking up careers in planning, which is causing problems for many cities, and has developers upset about slow processing times.</p>

January 26 - Scoop Independent News

<p>This report from the Suzuki Foundation examines climate change impacts on equity of land values in British Columbia.</p>

January 26 - Real Estate Institute of British Columbia

<p>This article looks at the success of downtown parks in cities big and small and argues that Eugene, Oregon, needs to start thinking about parks and stop looking at parking lots to drive the local economy.</p>

January 26 - Eugene Weekly

<p>A planned rail extension that would have connected the Washington D.C. area to Dulles International Airport has been all but killed by a federally-pushed disqualification of the project from receiving critical federal funding.</p>

January 26 - The Washington Post

<p><em>Treehugger</em> interviews New Urbanist Andy Kunz about the state of the nation's train system and plans for a high-speed rail network.</p>

January 26 - Treehugger.com

<p>A woman in Russia returned home form vacation recently to an empty plot of land. Her home was mistakenly demolished as developers readied a site for new construction.</p>

January 25 - Associated Press