The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

'Cheap Mortgages' Start To Come Due

Homeowners who gambled on risky mortgage products could find themselves paying hundreds of dollars more per month in the coming year as these products are reset to real-world interest rates.

January 6 - Herald-Tribune

Treasure Valley Home Sales Set Record

Idaho's Treasure Valley single-family home sales and dollar value break records.

January 6 - The Idaho Statesman

The Power of Infilltration

Planning Magazine examines how cities are encouraging multifamily projects and higher densities.

January 5 - Planning Magazine

Prefab Housing For The Masses

Prefabricated housing used to be a dirty word in the housing business. Today, many designer prefab houses are an affordable and elegant solution -- maybe even the "holy grail of modernism".

January 5 - Wired Magazine

Millions Of Americans Will Face Bankruptcy When The Housing Bubble Bursts

Federally-sanctioned distortions in the housing market are leading the American economy over a cliff, writes Bob Chapman.

January 5 - From the Wilderness


Schools Curb Energy Costs By Building Green

School officials in Oregon are learning a thing or two from a prototype uber-green classroom near Salem, which uses a large skylight and other technologies to enhance and regulate the natural light coming into the space.

January 5 - The Oregonian

BioWillie: Star Power And Alternative Fuels

Willie Nelson's concern for family farmers and disdain for the Iraq war led him to market a new brand of biodesil fuel, BioWillie, now sold at 13 gas stations in the Southwest.

January 5 - The New York Times


New Orleans' Catastrophic Solid Waste Problem

So much garbage was left behind by Katrina that if stacked in 1-yard cubes, the waste would wrap around the Earth more than once.

January 5 - The Chicago Tribune

A Ten-Step Program For Wal-Mart

Planners are not the only ones figuring out how to respond to the challenge of 'the Biggest Box Ever Built.'

January 5 - Fast Company

Supply and the Land

Cities are spending millions on land to protect water supplies.

January 5 - The Wall Street Journal

Kunstler on the New Year: Bursting Bubbles, Oil Conflicts

Energy and economic crises are going to lead to global instability in the coming year, warns James Howard Kunstler.

January 5 - James Howard Kunstler's Blog

A New Greenhouse-gas Emissions Market Emerges

Market-based programs to buy and sell pollutants that contribute to global warming are gaining popularity.

January 5 - The Christian Science Monitor

Top Five Environmental Stories Of 2005

The big green stories of the year, as reported by Grist Magazine, involved hurricanes, climate change, Bush follies, and oh yeah, one or two good things.

January 4 - Grist Magazine

Is Schwarzenegger's Megabond The Right Way To Invest In Our Future?

California's Governor wants to borrow billions for infrastructure spending. Where's the plan, asks Rick Cole, city manager of Ventura, California.

January 4 - The Los Angeles Times

Renovated Beyond Middle Class Means

In Hastings-On-Hudson, NY, one house's history follows the price bubble's rise.

January 4 - The New York Times

Solution To Homelessness: Mixed Use?

San Diego has built apartments close to services to help keep homeless off the streets.

January 4 - The Christian Science Monitor

Funds Run Out for 'Reconstructing' Iraq

The Bush Administration is not going to renew reconstruction dollars for Iraq once the present funding ends in June 2007.

January 4 - The Guardian

Three People Who Will Determine The Future Of Downtown Phoenix

A powerful trio of civic leaders are the real drivers of what happens -- or doesn't happen -- in downtown Phoenix.

January 4 - The Arizona Republic

New Plans For Barren Lands

The Michigan Land Use Institute publishes a Brownfield redevelopment how-to report describing the state's success in developing a job-producing program.

January 4 - Michigan Land Use Institute

Illinois Wrestles With Eminent Domain

This January Illinois lawmakers and citizens are set to do battle over the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the use of eminent domain for private economic development.

January 4 - The Chicago Tribune

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