The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

As the demand for organic foods increases, suppliers are importing crops from overseas, calling into question some of the environmental benefits.

July 16 - San Diego Union Tribune

A couple build their house using corrugated metal shipping containers.

July 15 - The Los Angeles Times

Innovative group helps working families live closer to town.

July 15 - Michigan Land Use Institute

Inmates of Minnesota's county jails have built 250 homes for rural families making up to 80 percent of the state median income.

July 15 - National Public Radio (NPR) via KnowledgePlex

Sure, housing is expensive in these top 10 cities, but what's driving the cost of living in many of these places through the roof is a lack of job growth and competitive salaries.

July 15 - Forbes Magazine via MSN

A partnership of the City of Columbus, the Central Ohio Building Industrial Association, a local housing group, and others, is sponsoring an affordable housing project built to green standards.

July 15 - The Columbus Dispatch

Marco Placidi is one of a growing number of 'Speleologists' in Rome -- where some of the world's most important history lies undiscovered beneath the modern city, in sewers, long-lost passages, and murky ponds.

July 14 - National Geographic

Mayor Ken Livingston is proposing raising the city's congestion charge for SUVs to £25, while providing discounts for low-emissions vehicles.

July 14 - BBC News

The Banner Bank Building expected to join the handful of buildings worldwide that have received a Platinum LEED award from U.S. Green Building Council.

July 14 - The Idaho Statesman

A new study shows that Canadians are spending more time getting to and from work.

July 14 - The Globe and Mail

A $1-billion bond measure that would help fund about 1,000 new affordable housing units annually over the next decade and enable middle-income workers to become first-time homeowners is likely to appear on the Los Angeles ballot in November.

July 14 - The Los Angeles Times

A newly adopted affordable housing law in Coral Springs, Florida, includes a teacher village as incentive to attract teachers to a City-owned Charter School.

July 14 - Sun-Sentinel

Trains have played a large role in shaping America's past, and will have a big impact on her future as rail transit continues to change the way we think about urban growth.

July 14 - The Next American City

Sixty signs of loose bolts and other potential failures are found in the same Big Dig tunnel where a motorist was crushed by 12 tons of falling concrete.

July 14 - CNN

Filling empty Chicago rooftops with plants seemed a little strange six years ago when Mayor Richard Daley installed a garden on the roof of city hall. But now more than 200 buildings in Chicago boast rooftop gardens, and the trend is spreading.

July 14 - The Christian Science Monitor

Visitors to Beijing during 2008 Olympic Games may never have a chance to explore some of the city's historic neighborhoods.

July 14 - The New York Times

Quick and inexpensive yet sturdy and charming, the Katrina Cottage, a housing type born out of the aftermath of the storm, could potentially change the way affordable housing is built.

July 13 - Cottage Living

State and local officials hope Google's announcement of plans to open new facility in Ann Arbor, MI, will attract more companies to the area.

July 13 - The Detroit Free Press

Neighbors of a successful "downtown" project in a Minneapolis suburb voice concerns that its success may mean more density and parking nightmares for their community.

July 13 - Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Part of a world-wide boom in cross-border investment, investors from South Korea are pumping a flood of money into the real estate markets of many U.S. cities.

July 13 - Wall Street Journal via The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette