The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>The City Manager of Portland, Maine terminates 98 positions, including the Urban Designer and Historic Preservation staff, eliminates the Parks Department, and moves the Economic Development department in to the Administrative office.</p>

April 28 - Portland Press Herald

<p>A former bus and rail yard in park-poor South Los Angeles will be converted into an "urban wetland park".</p>

April 27 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>A new study shows that supermarkets have migrated away from Canada's central and poorer neighborhoods, turning them into 'food deserts' with minimal access to more expensive food.</p>

April 27 - The Windsor Star

<p>Officials in the United Kingdom are looking at a new technique to deal with frozen winter roads -- by collecting and saving summer heat.</p>

April 27 - The Guardian

<p>"Cat cafes" are popping up all over Tokyo, giving patrons the company of a cat -- without the burden of actually owning one. There are at least seven cat cafes in Tokyo.</p>

April 27 - The Christian Science Monitor

<p>Vacant lots and underutilized dirt patches are the the romping grounds of a new breed of activists. Known as "guerrilla gardeners", groups of people all over the world are reclaiming their cities' public spaces and landscapes by planting seeds.</p>

April 27 - The Guardian

<p>New earthquake hazard maps from the U.S. Geological Survey show increased earthquake risk areas beyond typical hotspots like California. Geologists say planners and local officials should react to the maps by updating building codes.</p>

April 26 - Discovery

<p>Plans for a 4.6 km tramway have been announced for downtown Burj Dubai -- a $136 million transit system intended to link major developments in the rapidly rising emirate.</p>

April 26 - Arabian Business

BLOG POST

<img src="/files/u4/20080425-cable-map.png" alt="Submarine Cable Map, courtesty of Telegeography (http://www.telegeograph.com)" title="Submarine Cable Map, courtesty of Telegeography (http://www.telegeograph.com)" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="243" height="179" align="right" />So how do you permit and build a 4,000-mile undersea communication cable system? And why do we care?<br />

April 26 - Chris Steins

<p>The vast majority of LEED-certified green buildings in the U.S. are located in major cities, leading some to wonder whether there might be an inherent bias in LEED's standards.</p>

April 26 - CoStar Group

<p>A survey of residents in metro Atlanta shows that 58% of residents would support an additional 1-cent tax to fund public transit.</p>

April 26 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

<p><em>Streetfilms</em> looks at the livable streets movement in Paris and a twice-weekly "critical mass" over roller skaters that often brings crowds of thousands.</p>

April 26 - Streetsblog

<p>After noticing a illegally parked police car, a Portland, Oregon lawyer made use of a state law provision that allows private citizens to issue parking tickets.</p>

April 25 - USA Today

he satirical news show The Colbert Report takes a look at the "BumBot"—a robot used by an Atlanta bar owner to dispel vagrants from his property. Some citizens say the robot is dehumanizing, but others call it a hero.

April 25 - Colbert Report

<p>As proposals for big-box retail projects mount in New Orleans, many small business owners who are returning to the city worry about the coming competition. A documentary is currently being filmed about the recovering city's business atmosphere.</p>

April 25 - New Orleans Times-Picayune

<p>This segment from <em>NPR</em> looks at what's happened since a Native American tribe in Arizona opened a glass-floored walkway extending over the Grand Canyon.</p>

April 25 - NPR

<p>How does a rapidly changing news media affect big city planning? Badly, according to this post from <em>Next American City</em>.</p>

April 25 - The Next American City

<p>With rising sea levels and a penchant for ambitious new building ideas, Dubai is moving forward with plans to construct floating buildings and islands.</p>

April 25 - NPR

<p>This video from <em>CNN</em> looks at a home being planned in Connecticut that will have 26 toilets.</p>

April 25 - CNN

American Rivers has named the Catawba River--which spans both Carolinas--as America's Most Endangered River for 2008, citing rapid development and outdated water supply management as factors in its ranking.

April 25 - The State