The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>The U.S. needs a strong national housing policy -- not just to house the needy, but to save money and improve lives in a wide variety of ways, according to this op-ed.</p>

January 15 - Movement Vision Lab

<p>A streetcar has been proposed for Pechtree Street in Atlanta, but with the bulk of project's funding to come from a tax hike along the streetcar's route, some are concerned that gathering political support will be difficult.</p>

January 15 - Creative Loafing

<p>Richard Florida tours the University of Toronto and finds that its seamless "organic" integration with downtown Toronto makes it a unique "town-gown" success story.</p>

January 15 - The Globe & Mail

<p>"Sky islands" are a globally unique convergence — the north-south overlap of two major cordilleras spanning the temperate and subtropical latitudes, covering some 40 distinct mountain ranges in the southwestern U.S. But they are at risk.</p>

January 15 - Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments

<p>New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine has plans to travel throughout his state to convince voters that adding tolls to the state's roads is a good idea.</p>

January 15 - The New York Times

BLOG POST

<p><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">Sometime in the last year – when the smart people in North America weren&#39;t looking – bike-sharing turned into a billion-dollar industry. </span></font></p><p><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">I may be exaggerating when I say “industry.”  But not “billion.”</span></font><font face="Arial" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial"> </span></font></p>

January 14 - Gordon Price

<p>Despite the signatures of hundreds of U.S. Mayors, the Climate Protection Agreement that says cities will take the lead on addressing climate change has resulted in little action, according to this article.</p>

January 14 - Voice of San Diego

<p>Rural farmers in China want legal ownership rights for the state-owned lands they farm.</p>

January 14 - The Washington Post

<p>A new light rail line, a number of condo projects and a broad revitalization plan are changing the face of San Francisco's Bayview district. Many in the neighborhood see the changes pushing out blacks.</p>

January 14 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>This op-ed form <em>The Christian Science Monitor</em> argues that a new president would most likely enact policies to encourage family planning throughout the country and across the globe.</p>

January 14 - The Christian Science Monitor

<p>With a patchwork of building regulations, development can be difficult in Houston. This op-ed argues that what the city needs to guide itself to a more organized development pattern is a highly-defined plan to improve the city's permeability.</p>

January 14 - The Houston Chronicle

<p>The Chicago suburb Village of Oak Park opens the Marion Street Mall to automobile traffic again for the first time since 1974.</p>

January 14 - Chicago Public Radio

<p>Mumbai, Istanbul and other cities in the developing world are launching ambitious slum redevelopment plans that seem doomed to repeat the "urban inhumanity" of western postwar urban renewal projects.</p>

January 14 - The Globe and Mail

<p>Part of a week-long series, Randal O'Toole and blogger Will Campbell debate where fault should be placed in the often-unpleasant conflicts between driver and biker.</p>

January 14 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Sierra Magazine asks Matt Stoller, Michael Bocian, David Orr and Newt Gingrich to square off on how climate change will figure in the 2008 Presidential election.</p>

January 14 - Sierra

FEATURE

There are many voices in the process of community planning. To create effective plans, planners need to welcome these many voices and their respective differences, not suppress them into consensus.

January 14 - Lewis D. Hopkins, Marisa A. Zapata

<p>A new approach to urbanism in suburban Atlanta, the Tributary community is based on a mixed-use master plan integrating and interconnecting a range of residential neighborhoods, a village center, a town center, and more.</p>

January 14 - Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments

<p><em>The Examiner</em> looks at the loss of middle-class housing in San Francisco, and how, based on a new report by a local urban think tank, allowing more flexibility in zoning would allow affordable, but market-rate housing to meet the demand.</p>

January 13 - San Francisco Examiner

<p>Part of a week-long series, Randal O'Toole and blogger Will Campbell debate federal funding for bike infrastructure and question whether a broad bike system should be built before or after the demand presents itself.</p>

January 13 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Dubbed 'the world's cheapest car' and the 'People's Car', the Tata Nano promises either a transportation revolution or an environmental nightmare.</p>

January 13 - Associated Press