The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>Pranksters load up the New York subway with identical twins, surprising riders.</p>

July 11 - Urban Prankster

<p>Residents of small and mid-sized cities in the US and Canada are getting an introduction to bike-sharing thanks to large local companies.</p>

July 11 - Streetsblog

<p>Chicago's Loop is becoming a hot neighborhood.</p>

July 11 - Reuters

BLOG POST

<div class="mp_drop"> Last year Project on Public Spaces and I published the <strong><em><a href="http://www.pps.org/info/products/Books_Videos/great_neighborhood_book">Great Neighborhood Book,</a></em></strong> which offers hundreds of ideas from around the world about making community improvements on issues ranging from crime prevention to environmental restoration. Since then almost everyone I meet asks: What&#39;s your favorite neighborhood? </div> <p> I should have an answer ready. But each time the question arises, my mind starts wandering through the great places I&#39;ve explored through the years. Is it the Plateau neighborhood in Montreal, where I became infatuated with cities years ago as a college student? Maybe

July 11 - Jay Walljasper

<p>Plans were recently revealed for the much-ballyhooed High Line Park in New York, converting an abandoned elevated railway into a recreation area. But the NY Times says, 'I’d been hoping for a utopia. Instead, I got sumac.'</p>

July 11 - The New York Times

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman">North American (United States and Canada) policy generally favors low energy prices, with low taxes, production subsidies and other types of energy industry support. As a result, North Americans are energy rich: an average worker can purchase more fuel per hour of labor than almost any other time or place. In response North Americans have developed energy intensive lifestyles and industrial practices, have failed to implement many energy conservation practices common in other parts of the world, and consume more energy per capita than most other times and places.</span> </p>

July 11 - Todd Litman

<p>Residents of Austin, TX are risking violation of city ordinances forbidding loud animals to raise chickens in their central city neighborhood backyards. It's partly a way to cut out-of-pocket expenses.</p>

July 11 - Austin American-Statesman

<p>If buildings are responsible for almost half of the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, then our energy and building codes are incredibly important tools attaining energy and climate sanity.</p>

July 11 - Gristmill

<p>A Houston bedroom community decides against allowing childcare centers to mix with other businesses in strip centers.</p>

July 11 - The Houston Chronicle

<p>Formerly small towns near Boston have experienced high growth rates in recent years. But despite their potential to keep growing, water supplies and aging infrastructure will likely be a limiting factor.</p>

July 11 - The Boston Globe

<p>Harlem is undergoing a rapid change in terms of demographics and income levels. One real estate broker is at the front of driving this change, and many in the neighborhood are not happy about it. But is this change avoidable?</p>

July 11 - New York Magazine

<p>Landscape architects aren't typically well known, but their work is a major part of many peoples' lives. As urbanization increases, their influence on city dwellers will become more noticeable, according to this article.</p>

July 11 - The Vancouver Courier

<p>When California declared a statewide drought, a couple decided to let their front lawn die.</p>

July 10 - RedOrbit

<p>Long considered the source of California's fiscal and land use woes, Proposition 13, passed by voters in 1978, limits increases in property tax. However, it may prove to be an 'economic stabilizer' during the current housing slump.</p>

July 10 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>For the New Statesman's Andrew Stephen, last month's power failure in Washington D.C. exemplified the deterioration of America's infrastructure, which he likens to conditions he found in the dying days of the Soviet Union.</p>

July 10 - New Statesman

<p>After significant debate, the Pacheco pass route has been approved for the high-speed train between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Next step: pass a $10 billion proposition on the November ballot.</p>

July 10 - San Jose Mercury News

<p>The number of retirement communities is growing rapidly. Author Andrew D. Blechman warns about the social cost of age-segregation.</p>

July 10 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Vancouver's South East False Creek community is making the production of food one of the major aspects of its preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Its emphasis on local food production is a model other cities may look to follow.</p>

July 10 - BBC

<p>Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë has proposed abandoning the city's long-held building height restriction of 37 meters, citing the city's need to grow.</p>

July 10 - Telegraph

<p>In this column from <em>Governing</em>, Peter Harkness looks at the increasing influence and power of metropolitan areas.</p>

July 10 - Governing