The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>Fifteen months after Israeli bombers destroyed Lebanon's coastal oil tanks, the damage to ecosystems, economies and human health remain "devastating."</p>

November 6 - Inter Press Service

<p>Citing the need for more public input, rebuilding Boston's Storrow Drive tunnel is going to take longer than expected. Local residents and officials raise concerns about safety risks and rising costs.</p>

November 6 - The Boston Globe

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I first learned of </font><a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ockham's%20razor"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3" color="#800080">Okham’s Razor</font></a><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> in an undergraduate economics class. Also called the Law of Parsimony, the idea states that the simplest of two competing ideas or theories is preferable to the more complicated one. </font></p>

November 6 - Samuel Staley

<p>As public officials in New York tout their own work to build affordable housing, housing advocates are filing lawsuits against them arguing that they have fallen way short of the amount of units their cities need.</p>

November 6 - The New York Times

<p>Despite its reputation as one of the country's most bike-friendly cities, Portland could and should do much more to make cycling a safe and viable transportation option, according to this article.</p>

November 6 - Willamette Week

<p>Despite the sometimes difficult task of convincing residents of its importance, the protection of the environment must be the priority of cities. That was the message more than 100 American mayors heard and stressed at a recent meeting.</p>

November 6 - The New York Times

<p><em>FrontPage Magazine</em> features this Q&amp;A with Cato Institute Senior Fellow Randal O'Toole about why government planning is bad for everybody.</p>

November 6 - FrontPage Magazine

<p>A list of more than 200 ways designers, architects and planners can improve the integration of projects with their surrounding ecosystems has been released by the American Society of Landscape Architects.</p>

November 5 - Greener Buildings

<p>Building a "Subway to the Sea" in Los Angeles has been on the table for years, with local residents staunchly opposed to the rail line extension that would tunnel underneath their upscale neighborhoods. But now a new route is being proposed.</p>

November 5 - The Los Angeles Times

After nearly 20 years, has the New Urbanist development Kentlands been successful at achieving its goal of creating a strong community?

November 5 - The Washington Post

<p>While many metro areas in the U.S. have undertaken water conservation measures, one rapidly growing metropolis is criticized for its disregard for water conservation and uncontrolled growth.</p>

November 5 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Rachel Carson is credited with launching the modern environmental movement with her landmark book "Silent Spring". Her work was attacked by the chemical industry. One hundred years after her birth, her critics are back.</p>

November 5 - PBS - Bill Moyers Journal

<p>Tribune-Review columnist Bill Steigerwald interviews economic Randal O'Toole about his new book, "The Best-Laid Plans: How Government Planning Harms Your Quality of Life, Your Pocketbook, and Your Future."</p>

November 5 - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

<p>An elderly man watering his lawn in drought-stricken Australia was recently berated by a passerby for wasting water. A fight then broke out and the man was beaten to death.</p>

November 5 - Reuters

<p>Plans for a pedestrian-friendly city near Sacramento, California, have fallen short of goals, creating neighborhoods that are just as car-oriented and car-dependent as other nearby suburbs.</p>

November 5 - The Sacramento Bee

<p>Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti is proposing much-needed changes to the way L.A. facilitates neighborhood development.</p>

November 5 - The Planning Report

BLOG POST

<p>Last week I attended the <a href="http://www.dcp.ufl.edu/sacrph/conference/conference.html">Society of American City and Regional Planning History</a> (SACRPH) conference in Portland, Maine. The conference attracted a variety of notable planners and historians to my hometown for sessions on everything from radical 1970s public participation exercises to best practices in waterfront planning.</p><p> At the conference, outgoing group president and historian Greg Hise gave a provocative lecture titled “Whither the Region, or Why Ought There to Be an ‘R’ in SACRPH?” In the talk he described how he believed there was a declining interest in the organization in studying regions, pointing out that the word was declining in use in the titles of papers presented at recent conferences.</p>

November 4 - Robert Goodspeed

<p>The states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida have come to an agreement that will reduce the flow of river water out of Georgia as droughts have turned the three states against each other in a battle over limited water resources.</p>

November 4 - Reuters via Environmental News Network

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal">Although it is sometimes difficult to recognize in day-to-day planning activities, our ultimate goal is to make the world better, that is, to help create paradise on earth. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it!<br /> <br /> There are two different and often conflicting concepts of how to create paradise. It is important that planners understand the differences between them.</p>

November 4 - Todd Litman

<p>Rapid economic and physical development are posing problems for China's environment. But a new eco-friendly development model may soon replace the heavily resource-reliant "SuperBlock" development pattern.</p>

November 4 - GreenBiz