The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><span>A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of sharing several stages over two days in </span><span>New York</span><span>, with some of the most influential urbanists anywhere. The Forum for Urban Design brought together Amanda Burden (Commissioner and Director of Planning for New York), Cheong-Chua Koon Hean (CEO of Urban Development for Singapore), </span><span>Robert Freedman</span><span> (Director of Urban Design for Toronto), Peter Rees (Chief Planning Officer for London), </span><span>Kairos Shen</span><span> (Director of Planning for the Boston Redevelopment Authority), and myself, to discuss multiple city-building topics in front of (and with) Forum members, the business community and the general public. </span></font></font></p>

June 8 - Brent Toderian

<p>A British couple decided to incorporate public transit into their wedding, arriving to the ceremony by bus, and then taking the all the guests along to the reception.</p>

June 8 - South Manchester Reporter

<p>A report from the planning department in Vancouver has shown that the city's dedicated bus lanes have not resulted in the decreased transit travel times they were intended to achieve.</p>

June 8 - The Vancouver Sun

<p>The federal and the state government have announced their support for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan for Manhattan, indicating that the city would most likely receive federal grants to fund the system.</p>

June 8 - The New York Times

<p>Mayors in Arizona are voicing concerns over the state's growth and are calling for rapid development of commuter rail in the Tempe region to help handle the rising population's strain on transportation infrastructure.</p>

June 8 - The Arizona Republic

<p>Citing the threat posed by climate change, the State Attorney General of California Jerry Brown has filed suit against a community for failing to rein in sprawl.</p>

June 8 - USA Today

<p>Rural towns are making moves to provide their own high speed internet services. Many rural areas are underserved by big internet service providers, and public officials recognize the importance of internet access to the future of their communities.</p>

June 8 - The Christian Science Monitor

<p>The Houston City Council has approved a measure that would grant property tax exemption for owners of buildings assigned protected landmark status in the city. Officials hope the incentive will encourage historic preservation.</p>

June 8 - The Houston Chronicle

<p>Research by economists at Oregon State University shows that the state's land prices have not been impacted by its strong planning system and land-use regulations.</p>

June 8 - Portland Business Journal

<p>The idea of linking agriculture and smart growth is gaining ground in California's booming rural areas.</p>

June 8 - New America Foundation

BLOG POST

<p>WARSAW, Poland --I&#39;m on my fourth city in a two-month excursion, and so far I&#39;ve found all the quaintness, density, pedestrian life, and vernacular architecture that I was looking for as an antitode to my beloved, loathed Los Angeles. The cores of Riga and Vilnius come right out of proverbial fairy tales, and even Helsinki, though historically torn between Sweden and Russia, has plenty of the best trappings of Boston and San Francisco (as well as some of the worst of Atlanta or Dallas; more on that later). </p><p>Then there&#39;s Warsaw. </p>

June 8 - Josh Stephens

<p>A human rights group has accused the Chinese Government of forcing 1.5 million residents from their homes in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing -- the latest in a continuing saga of displacement in former host cities.</p>

June 8 - The Washington Post

<p>Voters in Tennessee have denied a proposal to use city funding to finance the development of a big box retail development. Many in the city say they have missed an opportunity to spur economic development in the small town.</p>

June 8 - Knoxville News Sentinel

<p>The new plan would transform Sydney's White Bay into an environmentally-friendly community designed to mitigate the city's ecological impact and combat global warming.</p>

June 8 - ABC News

<p>Savvy real estate developers who can promote their projects as smart growth developments are attracting significant capital from public pension funds -- regardless of the actual merits of the project.</p>

June 7 - LA Weekly

<p>Forced to close schools due to shrinking enrollment, a Detroit suburb is selling its surplus schools to housing developers in hopes that children from new families will prop up remaining schools in the community.</p>

June 7 - Metro Times

<p>The Ukrainian capital has seen the number of cars increase over 600 percent in less than 30 years, taxing the city's infrastructure and presenting local planners with a major transportation challenge.</p>

June 7 - Ukraine Observer

<p>Voters in Monterey County, California, have rejected environmentalists' general plan initiative, and appear to have tossed aside a county-written plan as well. The June 5 election was the latest conflict in the seven-year general plan process.</p>

June 7 - California Planning & Development Report

<p>Steven Holl's new addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City is reviewed by The New York Times Architecture Critic Nicolai Ouroussoff.</p>

June 7 - The New York Times

<p>A recent report by Joel Kotkin and the Greater Houston Partnership offers an alternative to Richard Florida's Creative Class model for the future of cities -- using the Sunbelt metropolis as a case study.</p>

June 7 - Greater Houston Partnership