The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Prefabricated housing used to be a dirty word in the housing business. Today, many designer prefab houses are an affordable and elegant solution -- maybe even the "holy grail of modernism".

January 5 - Wired Magazine

Federally-sanctioned distortions in the housing market are leading the American economy over a cliff, writes Bob Chapman.

January 5 - From the Wilderness

School officials in Oregon are learning a thing or two from a prototype uber-green classroom near Salem, which uses a large skylight and other technologies to enhance and regulate the natural light coming into the space.

January 5 - The Oregonian

Willie Nelson's concern for family farmers and disdain for the Iraq war led him to market a new brand of biodesil fuel, BioWillie, now sold at 13 gas stations in the Southwest.

January 5 - The New York Times

So much garbage was left behind by Katrina that if stacked in 1-yard cubes, the waste would wrap around the Earth more than once.

January 5 - The Chicago Tribune

Planners are not the only ones figuring out how to respond to the challenge of 'the Biggest Box Ever Built.'

January 5 - Fast Company

Cities are spending millions on land to protect water supplies.

January 5 - The Wall Street Journal

Energy and economic crises are going to lead to global instability in the coming year, warns James Howard Kunstler.

January 5 - James Howard Kunstler's Blog

Market-based programs to buy and sell pollutants that contribute to global warming are gaining popularity.

January 5 - The Christian Science Monitor

The big green stories of the year, as reported by Grist Magazine, involved hurricanes, climate change, Bush follies, and oh yeah, one or two good things.

January 4 - Grist Magazine

California's Governor wants to borrow billions for infrastructure spending. Where's the plan, asks Rick Cole, city manager of Ventura, California.

January 4 - The Los Angeles Times

In Hastings-On-Hudson, NY, one house's history follows the price bubble's rise.

January 4 - The New York Times

San Diego has built apartments close to services to help keep homeless off the streets.

January 4 - The Christian Science Monitor

The Bush Administration is not going to renew reconstruction dollars for Iraq once the present funding ends in June 2007.

January 4 - The Guardian

A powerful trio of civic leaders are the real drivers of what happens -- or doesn't happen -- in downtown Phoenix.

January 4 - The Arizona Republic

The Michigan Land Use Institute publishes a Brownfield redevelopment how-to report describing the state's success in developing a job-producing program.

January 4 - Michigan Land Use Institute

This January Illinois lawmakers and citizens are set to do battle over the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the use of eminent domain for private economic development.

January 4 - The Chicago Tribune

As home energy costs continue to increase, scavenging for wood in metropolitan areas may become a common sight.

January 4 - From the Wilderness

With unprecedented growth expected at Fort Bliss El Paso, Texas, is expected to grow by 50,000 - 60,000 people in the next six years.

January 4 - El Paso Times

Is the government's focus on brownfield development a distraction from other toxic sites that are more dangerous, but have less commercial appeal?

January 3 - The Boston Globe