The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

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The best English-language science magazine, <em>New Scientist,</em> reports this week that London's congestion pricing -- 5 pounds to drive into downtown -- lowered emissions last year. The story's not online yet (next week it'll be in the archive at <a href="http://www.newscientist.com">New Scientist.com</a>) but I've thoughtfully copied out the salient bits:<br /> <blockquote>...nitrogen oxides and particulates fell by 16 per cent. A fall in the number of cars and an increase in speed of 4 kilometres an hour were responsible for three-quarters of this fall, with greener technology in cars making up the rest. Carbon dioxide emissions fell by 19 per cent. Even an increase in the number of buses, whose diesel engines are among the worst polluters, could not offset the drop, partly because modern buses are fitted with particulate traps.</blockquote>

November 30 - Anonymous

A Washington development mogul assess the District's real estate priorties and its future.

November 30 - The Washington Post

Most U.S. cities have many buildings with strong echoes of Islamic architecture and design traditions.

November 30 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand is sprawling at a rapid rate.

November 30 - The New Zealand Herald

A graduate student points out that transit agencies are overlooking a major source of income: wireless Internet access on trains.

November 30 - The Gotham Gazette

Municipalities show little interest in Bureau of Land Management's program to make land available at discounted rates for affordable housing.

November 30 - Las Vegas Sun

Cities and states gear up to defend local military bases amid the Defense Department's plans to eliminate nearly a quarter of the military's infrastructure.

November 30 - The Los Angeles Times

Gentrification changes a once-vibrant black neighborhood in Berkeley.

November 30 - The Daily Californian

Cambridge University's school of architecture may be closed because it's research is deemed inadequate.

November 30 - The Guardian Unlimited

Students learn about the causes of homelessness.

November 30 - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Some home improvements that increase density in the suburbs can actually lower the value of a home.

November 30 - Opolis

Wal-Mart, having saturated the United States with over 3,600 stores, has set its sights on China -- and, according to Ralph Nader, "using this Communist regime as its labor enforcement arm to drive down wages and benefits in the U.S."

November 29 - Common Dreams

The Census Bureau receives funding to replace the 'long form' census with an annual 'American Community Survey'.

November 29 - The Los Angeles Times

Florida cities want more control over shaping the future of the fast-growing state.

November 29 - The Tampa Tribune

Cairo, struggling for open space, builds a 74-acre park on a 500-year old garbage dump.

November 29 - The Los Angeles Times

Opposition is growing to Governor Rick Perry's proposal for a 4,000-mile network of quarter-mile-wide multimodal corridors for transporting goods, people and utilities.

November 29 - Time

Are wireless networks set to become the new revitalization and urban renewal strategy for the city of the 21st century?

November 29 - Salon

A task force recommends ending free and subsidized parking in Washington D.C.

November 29 - The Washington Post

The Arizona Republic examines the anatomy of a major housing development by following the story of Lot 1311 in Phoenix.

November 29 - The Arizona Republic

The Congress for New Urbanism shows how mixed-use redevelopment of dead and dying shopping malls can create valuable urban assets.

November 29 - The Congress for the New Urbanism