The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

A private developer's proposal to build a 33-mile toll road bypassing a heavy traffic area in Colorado Springs depends on a crucial city council vote. But even if approved, the mostly private public-private development may not be necessary.

July 1 - Colorado Springs Independent

A new study shows the city's air quality ranks below New York, London, Paris, and even Los Angeles.

July 1 - The Standard

Calling an entire country a major economic force just isn't accurate. At least, that's what Richard Florida contends. His article discusses the regional, not national, nature of areas that are making global impacts.

July 1 - Newsweek via MSNBC

The historic downtown of Santa Ana, CA, is being transformed with lofts, concerts, and an experimental music festival featuring a "carchestra".

June 30 - The Los Angeles Times

New research in Nature indicates that conditions are right for a 100-mile stretch of California's San Andreas Fault to release pressure that has been building.

June 30 - Scientific American

Germany is straying from the European Union's stated goals of compliance with the Kyoto Protocol by postponing emission reduction requirements for some of the country's largest and most polluting industries.

June 30 - International Herald Tribune

A recent change in the method of calculating the size of developable land took the state's wetlands out of the acreage. The result could have been vastly expanded stormwater-runoff infrastructure requirements for developers. But it wasn't.

June 30 - The Raleigh-Durham Independent Weekly

The Graduate School of Design will offer executive education programs for professionals covering topics in real estate development and urban planning.

June 30 - The Chattanoogan

Residents and officials of one Central Florida community are left wondering where plans for a "viable" downtown went wrong.

June 30 - The Orlando Sentinel

A resident of New York City offers multimedia impressions of the city, its modes of transport, and environmental history.

June 30 - alexreisner.com

The world's largest public-works project, the Interstate, fully transformed Americans' lives.

June 30 - The Christian Science Monitor

With an aim toward affordable housing and helping homeowners pay their mortgage, Seattle considers allowing backyard apartments, much to the chagrin of local opponents.

June 30 - The Seattle Times

It is possible to move three, four, or even five counties out from the District of Columbia and still feel the effects of growth in the national capital region, even though Unger, W.Va. is not generally considered a suburb of Washington.

June 30 - The Washington Post

Grace Dobush urges the city of Pittsburgh to preserve its old-world charm.

June 29 - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Former California State Architect Steven Castellanos outlines the changes that would be required to change how schools are designed and built if they are to become centers of communities.

June 29 - New Schools, Better Neighborhoods

Planning commissioners in the City of Tracy cite a CEQA provision as they choose the environmentally un-friendly alternative -- a sprawling subdivision of 500 new homes.

June 29 - Tracy Press

An independent review panel of experts has challenged the transportation aims of the San Diego Association of Governments, saying it has focused too much on auto-oriented development and is essentially promoting sprawl.

June 29 - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Joel Kotkin asserts that "city sophisticates" praising downtown revivals and the New Urbanism must now admit that the suburbs are the center of attention in America and around the world.

June 29 - David Gest

Joining cities like Austin and Philadelphia that are implementing city-wide wireless networks, Atlanta is seeking partners to help provide on-demand access in a 132-square-mile area.

June 29 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Kelo" comes to California on Nov. 7 when voters will consider the "Protect Our Homes" initiative. Having qualified for the ballot, the initiative may sharply restrict local government's ability to regulate land use, similar to Oregon's Measure 37.

June 29 - San Francisco Chronicle