The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Water projects and diversion efforts in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria are draining the marshlands near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, known as the 'Fertile Crescent'.

July 29 - New Scientist

China, South Korea and Japan are all investing teh equivalent of hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy technologies, while the U.S. is debating a mere 1.2 billion in the Waxman-Markey bill.

July 29 - San Francisco Chronicle

A review by John King of Anthony Flint's new book, <em>Wrestling With Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York's Master Builder and Transformed the American City.</em>

July 29 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Author Kurt Andersen's new book describes the last three decades as a period of wanton growth, from homes to waistlines. He sees the economic bust as a way to return sanity and size appropriateness.

July 29 - Boing Boing

The Huffington Post offers a mouth-watering slide show of the top 10 cities for locavores, and asks readers for suggestions of examples they might have missed [Slideshow]

July 28 - Huffington Post

BLOG POST

<p style="text-align: left"> The concept of ripeness in several realms is elusive. I have never figured out how to properly thump a melon at a grocery store, although I have made a thorough study of it. You might want to<a href="http://aces.nmsu.edu/CES/yard/1998/070698.html"> click here</a>, or <a href="http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/2006/08/09/is_a_melon_ripe_for_the_eating_heres_how_to_tell/">here</a>, or <a href="http://www.foodsubs.com/Fruitmel.html">here </a> for some guidance, none of which seems to work when it’s just me in a stare down with a cold, stone faced and silent honeydew. </p> <p style="text-align: left"> Just yesterday one of my younger children from what we call the “second litter” asked me at dinner how I could tell if a coconut was ripe. I paused, realized that I had no answer, and did what every good parent should do and asked instead why they weren’t eating their salad. Yes, attack and divert. </p> <p style="text-align: left"> You think melons and coconuts are tough — try ripeness in land use litigation.

July 28 - Dwight Merriam

Rebuilding is underway in New Orleans. But not with huge conglomerates running the show. Most of the work is being done by non-profits, startups and other community-based organizations.

July 28 - WorldChanging

A fierce battle is brewing over new requirements for sprinklers in homes. Firefighters say the sprinklers are needed, but builders say the Sprinkler Code Coalition is having undue influence on code development.

July 28 - The Center for Public Integrity

Researchers in the U.K. are proposing a plan to utilize streetlamp infrastructure to install traffic monitoring devices in an effort to collect more information and aid transportation planners.

July 28 - EE Times

The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Administration are looking to increase energy efficiency incentives for homeowners, including opportunities for larger home loans.

July 28 - Los Angeles Times

A huge but largely under-noticed portion of public transit money goes to paratransit -- equipment and services to transport disabled people. Now, cheaper alternatives are emerging.

July 28 - Governing

LA's Metropolitan Transportation Authority has set a toll 'schedule' for solo motorists on the new High Occupancy Toll, or 'ExpressLanes', as the MTA refers to them, on the 10 and 110 freeways. Opening date may be 2010.

July 28 - Los Angeles Times

Organizers claim city money won't be needed as Chicago edges closer to securing the 2016 Summer Olympics, but locals are wary about the costs that could fall on them. The recession is exacerbating concerns.

July 28 - The New York Times

The Philadelphia neighborhood of Francisville is about to get an urban makeover, but two competing visions have very different ideas of what that means.

July 28 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor was part of an appeals-court panel in 2006 that favored a private developer with the authority to seize land by eminent domain.

July 27 - The Christian Science Monitor

The Mannahatta Project is a project of the Wildlife Conservation Society. The website aims to visualize the island of Mannahatta in 1609, before European settlers began developing it.

July 27 - The Mannahatta Project

A new "boutique approach" to parking may revolutionize neighborhood on-street parking in San Francisco.

July 27 - San Francisco Chronicle

A new report identifies ways to incorporate health objectives into transportation and land use planning.

July 27 - The Convergence Partnership

A $276 million mixed-use remake of a 1973-era mall is opening on Interstate 64 in southeastern Virginia. While the retail is trickling in, the housing element is filling up quickly.

July 27 - New Urban News

Cape Town, South Africa is developing into the cultural center of the continent, according to this piece from <em>Travel + Leisure</em>.

July 27 - Travel + Leisure