The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Gas taxes, parking charges, toll roads - these are the ingredients to making transit successful, according to experts who state that it's not enough to offer good transit - driving must become more expensive. Add to that high density land use.

August 10 - Los Angeles Times

Since the Columbus Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) put bike racks on the front of their buses, so many people have forgotten and left their bikes on board that hundreds of bikes are piling up in the lost and found.

August 10 - The Columbus Dispatch

Boston has not had a good relationship with cyclists. However, Mayor Thomas M. Menino is a cycling advocate, a city bike czar is on staff, bike lanes and facilities have been added, and a turn-around is evident even to its critics.

August 10 - The New York Times - U.S.

Writer Colin Beavan set a goal for his family to live a year in New York with no impact on the environment. A new documentary film follows their travails as meat, cosmetics, and trash bags get packed away.

August 10 - WorldChanging

With not a moment to spare, the Senate passed the House-approved version of the Clunkers program extension - an additional $2 billion to last to Labor Day, and then went into recess. Any changes would have ended the program.

August 10 - The New York Times - Business

BLOG POST

<span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman"> </span> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman">Some commentators think that Internet technology will liberate us from the constraints of place; for example, one amazon.com book review of Joel Kotkin’s <em>The New Geography</em> states “Because today&#39;s connected workers can live anywhere they want, they will live anywhere they want.”<span>  </span>Kotkin himself is a little more circumspect, but writes: “Telecommunication allows people who want privacy, low-density neighborhoods and good schools to live in small towns in a way never before possible.”(1)<span>  </span>There is a tiny amount of truth to this claim: the Internet does make it

August 10 - Michael Lewyn

The "Forgiving Highway" concept of the 1960s proposed the idea that wider, straighter freeways would be safer. Not so, says TTI.

August 10 - Sustainable Cities Collective

Last week, New York Mayor Bloomberg released a plan to reform transit in the city. City Journal looks at how that might happen and how New York can pay for it.

August 10 - City Journal

Cities need stations where electric cars can recharge in order for the new technology to take off and become a reality in the future, <cite>The Wall Street Journal</cite> reports.

August 10 - The Wall Street Journal

The Center for Public Integrity runs the numbers, and finds that Americans are cashing in on "Cash for Clunkers" at a rate of $77 million a day, vs. $39 million for the first-time homebuyer credit.

August 10 - Center for Public Integrity

FEATURE

August 10 - Amber Hawkes

Clark Williams-Derry has been searching the horizon for the Moby Dick of smart growth statistics, and he's found it in a new study out of UC Irvine.

August 10 - Sightline Daily

The White House Office of Urban Affairs is officially in action, but the creation of urban policy seems to have started on its own, according to this column form Neal Peirce.

August 9 - Citiwire

When mandatory water conservation rules took effect in Glendale, California, homeowner David Wood installed artificial turf to maintain the green front yard emblematic of the American Dream. But his new fake lawn is against the law.

August 9 - Glendale News Press

Retail Traffic Magazine reports that grocery stores are increasingly moving into the spaces vacated by big box and chain retailers.

August 9 - Retail Traffic Magazine

Walkability improves home values, according to a new report. <em>Smart City</em> talks with economist Joe Cortright about the study, and with IBM about its new "Smarter Cities" technology report.

August 9 - Smart City

This week, eSolar debuted the first solar thermal power tower in the U.S., which they say is a step forward in technology and affordability.

August 9 - Earth2Tech

BLOG POST

<p> Hundreds of activists, students, politicians, lawyers, developers, architects and planners swarmed Miami&#39;s City Hall on Thursday for the City Commission&#39;s first reading of <a href="/www.miami21.org">Miami 21</a>. By some estimates, nearly 80% of the the 100-plus testimonials were spoken in favor of  Miami 21, with Miami Mayor Manny Diaz kicking off the event with an 11-minute pro-Miami 21 paean. It was certainly one of the most eloquent, if not most passionate speech I have heard him deliver during his tenure. Strangely, Commissioner Angel Gonzalez was missing from the dais for what might have been the most important vote of the year. Apparently, the two week notice was delivered in time for him to reschedule surgery.

August 8 - Mike Lydon

BLOG POST

<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal">As a lifelong urbanite, I’ve always felt comfortable learning cities “by Braille.” I put on my walking shoes and wander, making mental maps as I go. I experience serendipity, yet can generally intuit where things are likely to be – the CBD, the government center, nightlife.</p><p class="MsoNormal">This summer our family spent time in Berlin, Venice, Florence, and Paris. Of the four, Paris was the only one I’d been to before. By the time we got there, it was like greeting an old friend.</p>

August 8 - Lisa Feldstein

Willingness to default on home loans has been found to increase in ZIP codes with high foreclosure rates, leaving foreclosure-heavy Las Vegas in danger.

August 8 - The Las Vegas Sun