The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>Think a city's road network is a result of rational planning? Well, think again. After analyzing over 300 cities -- both old and new -- scientists have discovered that cities tend to grow like organisms, and follow a similar mathematical pattern.</p>

April 29 - New Scientist

<p>A review of the 7th annual EcoCity World Summit reveals some of the ideas and innovations the planners, architects and builders are using to create greener and more sustainable cities.</p>

April 29 - WorldChanging

<p>While the American Dream Coalition celebrates the 'freedom and affordability' of Houston -- Robert Steuteville wonders why the group ignores the environmental and financial consequences of such an auto-dependent city.</p>

April 29 - New Urban News

<p>Rising natural gas, heating oil and electricity prices are becoming a major financial burden for millions of Americans, and without more generous relief programs many could face service shut-offs.</p>

April 29 - The New York Times

<p>Boltbus, a joint venture between Peter Pan and Greyhound, is betting high gas prices and clogged airline terminals, will make way for yet another low-cost carrier between Boston and New York City.</p>

April 29 - The Boston Globe

<p>Harald Bodenschatz calls for a radical shift in the urban planning discourse when he claims for a revitalization not only of the downtown, but of the district centers and of suburbia itself, which should be made denser and more valuable.</p>

April 29 - The Urban Reinventors Online Urban Journal

BLOG POST

<p> Last Tuesday was a big day for me and an even bigger Earth Day for the City of Los Angeles. After 18 months of meetings, focus groups, workshops, conference calls, briefings, and a lot of collective putting together of heads the City Council unanimously passed a landmark green building ordinance. Three hours later it was signed into law by the Mayor. </p>

April 29 - Walker Wells

BLOG POST

<p> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">One of the many signs that green development and design is reaching a tipping point toward becoming business-as-usual, is the quantity of articles and writings on the subject in what might be considered &quot;mainstream&quot; land development publications. Case-in-point is the current Issue of <em>Urban</em><em> Land</em>, the <em>Green</em> issue. This attention is a good thing, despite the growing need to ensure that developments that play the green card, truly do walk the talk.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial"> </span> </p>

April 28 - Brent Toderian

BLOG POST

<p> <img src="/files/u4/20080428-apa-0667.jpg" alt="Las Vegas Strip" title="Las Vegas Strip" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="320" height="240" align="right" /> I&#39;m at the Paris Hotel on the Vegas strip for the 100th annual American Planning Association (APA) <a href="http://www.planning.org/nationalconference/">conference</a>, which started Saturday, and runs through Thursday, May 1. The conference offers 300 sessions and 60 mobile workshops to the approximately 5,000 participants. </p> <p> And it&#39;s going to be a crowded week, if the 30-minute line for coffee this morning in the Paris boulangerie is any indication. </p> <p> <strong>Infrastructure matters; Planners should be politically active.</strong> </p>

April 28 - Chris Steins

With New York City's congestion pricing proposal effectively dead, DOT Secretary Peters indicated that the city had forfeited its $350 million grant, and gave other cities the chance to apply. Now Los Angles may grab over $200 million for transit.

April 28 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>This in-depth look at the future of energy shows a coming crisis, with the oil shortage taking center stage due to India and China's thirst for cars. The U.S. sets a poor example for them to follow with low fuel taxes and long commutes.</p>

April 28 - The New York Times

<p>As the housing industry flounders, New Urbanist developers are using the flexibility inherent in their community plans to their advantage.</p>

April 28 - New Urban News

<p>Newsweek profiles the most influential environmental leaders of the last century.</p>

April 28 - Newsweek

<p>The sub prime crisis is affecting both the growth of planned suburbs and prompting the decline of new suburbs. Is the US heading for Slumburbia?</p>

April 28 - The Guardian

<p>The Sacramento region has become a national model for smart growth planning. But what, asks Bill Fulton, will it take to make the region sustainable for decades to come?</p>

April 28 - California Planning & Development Report

<p>The Washington D.C. Metro transit system is planning to hire a group of "mystery riders" to discretely monitor the system and identify areas for improvement. Critics call the plan a waste of money.</p>

April 28 - The Washington Post

<p>That's how many are expected to inhabit the world by 2050. Experts worry over looming food shortages.</p>

April 28 - The Christian Science Monitor

<p>A recent report argues that tolls could provide the solution to Seattle's traffic congestion, but they would have to be very high, and very widely used.</p>

April 28 - The Seattle Times

FEATURE

Neighborhoods -- their habits, their participants, and their values -- are what create and define value in a city and in a home. Cities need to embrace this fact if they want to preserve values and retain residents.

April 28 - Charles Buki

<p>This video from <em>CBC</em> looks at how Victoria, British Columbia, plans to mimic the efforts of Portland, Oregon, to reduce homelessness by taking a "housing first" approach.</p>

April 28 - CBC News: The National