The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>A 24-second stop-motion animation illustrating a chicane, an inexpensive and effective way to get drivers to slow down on your neighborhood street.</p>

January 19 - Streetsblog

BLOG POST

<p>The other day, half a million plastic balls bounced down the Spanish Steps, one of Rome&#39;s most visited and historic public places. Many visitors, picture-takers and members of the media were caused to wonder &#39;what&#39;s up with all these balls?&#39;</p>

January 18 - Nate Berg

<p>Superheroes exist outside the pages of comic books, and they are committed to improving their communities. Though there are few "supervillains" to tackle, these superheroes serve their cities through civic volunteerism and general do-goodery.</p>

January 18 - City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul)

<p>A new report in the latest issue of the <em>Journal of the American Planning Association</em> examines how home-owning and aging baby boomers will drastically affect the housing market.</p>

January 18 - The Wall Street Journal

<p>Despite slow going at the eco-intentional community Arcosanti in Arizona, hundreds of similar "eco-villages" have popped up around the world.</p>

January 18 - E/The Environmental Magazine

<p>The Hollywood writer's strike is beginning to have ripple effects throughout the Los Angeles economy, and has already cost the city $1.4 billion in lost wages.</p>

January 18 - Observer (UK)

<p>A shift in the market has once again transformed the vision for developing Boston's One Kenmore, a Massachussetts Turnpike air rights development project in the heart of the city's Kenmore Square/Fenway Park neighborhood.</p>

January 18 - The Boston Globe

<p>Despite recent findings by consultants that a plan to extend the Washington D.C. metro rail system to Dulles International Airport would qualify for full funding, federal officials are hesitant to approve it, fearing another Big Dig.</p>

January 18 - The Washington Post

<p>The government of Norway has announced plans to offset all of its carbon emissions by 2030, a goal it had previously set for 2050.</p>

January 18 - Reuters via Environmental News Network

<p>Having been particularly targeted by subprime mortgage lenders, neighborhoods with a majority of African American households are bearing the brunt of the housing crisis.</p>

January 18 - The Nation

<p>Despite its relatively low car ownership rates, Britain has one of the worst public transit systems and the most congested roads among industrialized nations, according to a a new report.</p>

January 18 - BBC

<p>Former California Governor Jerry Brown, now the state's attorney general, is vowing to sue cities and counties that do not take climate change into consideration during general plan updates.</p>

January 18 - California Planning & Development Report

BLOG POST

<p>This evening my wife, Beth Conover, will appear on a televised panel discussion on &quot;Immigration and Sustainability&quot; aired on Rocky Mountain PBS&#39;s <a href="http://www.rmpbs.org/content/index.cfm/show/199305" title="Rocky Mountain PBS Colorado State of Mind">Colorado State of Mind</a>, hosted by Greg Dobbs. The panel includes former Gov. Dick Lamm, former Post columnist Diane Carman, and State Rep. Michael Garcia (D-Aurora). An mp3 of the program is already available at the following <a href="http://www.rmpbs.org/resources/files/programs/local_productions/csom/csom603.mp3" title="MP3 of 7-18-07 Colorado State of Mind PBS Show">link</a>. </p>

January 17 - Ken Snyder

<p>With homelessness rates doubling after hurricane Katrina, activists in New Orleans have filed lawsuits and faced pepper spray and tasers in their fight to save public housing units from being demolished.</p>

January 17 - In These Times

<p>The long-awaited report by the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission has finally been released and it's sure to create a stir as it calls for annual increases in the gas tax of 5 to 8 cents for 5 years, and then some.</p>

January 17 - The Kansas City Star

<p>Ohio never recovered from the 2001 recession, and today 16 percent of families live below the poverty line. The state continues to lose high-paying factory jobs, and adult children and moving back in with their parents to make ends meet.</p>

January 17 - The New York Times

<p>Walking and biking in becoming increasingly dangerous in many Chinese cities. This article looks at what some cities are doing to discourage these traditional forms of transport, and what they can do to make the streets safer.</p>

January 17 - UC Berkeley Traffic Safety Center Newsletter

<p>Design teams presented their visions for the future of Washington D.C. recently. Their outlook was overwhelmingly dire.</p>

January 17 - The Washington Post

<p>Desalination plants are being seen as the solution to declines in global freshwater supplies. But as Scott Thill reports, the plants may be an environmental disaster in the making.</p>

January 17 - AlterNet

<p>British Columbia's Premier Gordon Campbell has announced $14 billion worth of public transit investment.</p>

January 17 - The Globe and Mail