The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

For years, not-for-profit agencies were relied upon to cover social and housing services formerly provided by governments. Now that municipal and state budgets are drying up along with foundation grants, NGOs are losing their funding sources.

March 16 - The Nation

BLOG POST

<p> High Speed Rail (HSR) is the favorite moniker to describe the new era of trains envisioned and partially down-paid by the recent stimulus.  The idea, linking major regional corridors via fast trains that rival door-to-door times for air travel and put highways to shame, is a powerful elixir to the crunch of congested highways and airways that represented a failed – or to be more accurate, incomplete - twentieth century vision to satiate America&#39;s transport needs.  Perhaps this vision, if implemented with undeterred gusto, can renew our perception of travel and convenience while simultaneously reinvigorating our gagged transportation system. </p>

March 16 - Ian Sacs

$147 per barrel oil prices set off a frenzy of new domestic oil drilling that has all but ceased with $46 per barrel. The drop in natural gas drilling has been even more pronounced. When demand returns, domestic oil and gas supplies will likely not.

March 16 - The New York Times - Business

The revitalization of downtown Los Angeles took another hit this week, as real estate firm Meruleo Maddox Properties Inc., the largest private landowner in the area, revealed that it may have to file for bankruptcy protection.

March 16 - The Wall St. Journal

$16.8 billion of Pres. Obama's stimulus package is allocated to energy efficiency and renewable energy. Steve Coll of the New Yorker explains where the funding is going, and what it means.

March 16 - The New Yorker

As part of a special issue on food, Yes! Magazine profiles the Brazilian city of Belo, which has, by working with farmers and communities, put an end to hunger.

March 16 - Yes! Magazine

The idea of sustainability is growing up, and as concerns about the environment take hold in cities from the bottom up, some are calling for a more sophisticated approach to "green" city development, write Anthony Flint and William Shutkin.

March 16 - Citiwire

FEATURE

March 16 - Peter Gertler

<em>Next American City</em>'s Jeffrey Hill reads through the federal stimulus bill to find good news for cities.

March 16 - Next American City

In a recent feature in Time Magazine called 'Ten Ideas Changing the World Right Now,' no. 2 on the list is 'Recycling the Suburbs.'

March 15 - Time

This video takes a look at what may be the world's best subway system - Hong Kong's MTR. Riders hold shares in the public-private entity. And, as the video explains, it is profitable.

March 15 - World Focus

According to architecture critic Chris Hawthorne, Downtown Los Angeles' Civic Park does nothing in the way of creating its own identity. Instead, it neglects its image as a whole by being too fixated on its "aesthetic responsibility."

March 15 - Los Angeles Times

Vivek Kundra, the Washington D.C. chief technology officer who created an innovative publicly accessible database of city information, will be heading to a new office in D.C. -- at the White House.

March 15 - Citiwire

Indianapolis is a thriving job market, while Detroit is rapidly decaying and drying up. What's the difference? Policies encouraging public-private partnerships, according to this article from <em>Next American City</em>.

March 15 - Next American City

Even as service is being cut, enormous transit projects are coming online in New York and New Jersey, including a new $9 billion tunnel into Manhattan.

March 14 - USA Today

A kids treehouse in Highland, Arkansas is facing the local Planning and Zoning Commission, who may order its destruction. Is a treehouse a 'structure'?

March 14 - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) is an abbreviation that may become more common if the coal industry has its way. But The Economist argues that carbon taxes are a better way to improve the environment than investing in CCS technology.

March 14 - Minneapolis Star-Tribune

In an effort to reclaim a public plaza at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge that was demolished in the 1960s by Robert Moses, artist Brian Tolle is reconstructing the statues that once adorned the plaza.

March 14 - Bloomberg

Developers have released plans for a mixed use retail project to replace a horse racing track, a proposal that would be one of the largest redevelopment projects in the region.

March 14 - Los Angeles Times

Senator Mary Landrieu has threatened to take away some of New Orleans' unused federal dollars if they remain so. Of the unspent $34 million allocated for low-income housing, $11 million will be lost if there are no projects by May 31.

March 13 - The Times-Picayune