The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>In Germany, the governor of Bavaria has announced that financing has been secured for a 23-mile mag-lev train from downtown Munich to its international airport. But others say the funding is less-than secure.</p>

September 27 - Der Spiegel

<p>A major water bill that would authorize future spending on infrastructure projects -- especially in Louisiana -- is drawing heat and threats of a presidential veto because it does little to reform the highly-criticized Army Corps of Engineers.</p>

September 27 - The New York Times

<p>A plan to demolish a historic nightclub to make way for a 20-space parking lot in Toronto is "lunacy", writes Christopher Hume.</p>

September 27 - The Toronto Star

BLOG POST

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">We all saw it on the Internet—the fellow at a public meeting being hauled away from the microphone before getting wrestled to the floor and tasered during a Q&amp;A with John Kerry. Fortunately, silencing argumentative speakers with a taser is not a common occurrence at most public meetings. While I might confess that there have been meetings where, in retrospect, one might have secretly wished one was armed with a stun gun, facilitators generally try to avoid confrontation. Yet there’s no denying that sometimes people show up at public meetings looking for a fight, begging for outrage, and hoping to irritate and inflame.

September 27 - Barbara Faga

<p>New British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced plans to double the development of carbon-conscious "eco-towns" in an effort to reduce the country's emissions and expand its strained housing stock.</p>

September 27 - BBC

<p>With an environmentally-conscious plan and ambitions to lure some of the world's most well-respected institutions, the emirate of Abu Dhabi is on a forward-thinking path and should be watched more closely than its extravagant counterpart, Dubai.</p>

September 27 - Arabian Business

<p>Residents and planners are just about fed up with McMansions in the Bsoton suburb of Wellesley, and they are looking to impose strict regulations on housing size and give a residential board oversight on proposed houses.</p>

September 27 - The Boston Globe

<p>This editorial from the <em>Idaho Statesman</em> says that a proposal to switch from a per-gallon gas tax to a per-mile taxing system is flawed.</p>

September 26 - The Idaho Statesman

<p>In a move to clean up the world-renowned district of ill-repute, a $35 million dollar buyout will cut more than one third of the prostitution rooms in Amsterdam's famed Red Light district.</p>

September 26 - Time

<p>Land use, housing location, and the "everyday decisions" of planners are the backbone of a new way of looking at climate change policy, according to this article from the <em>Los Angeles Times</em>.</p>

September 26 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Recent studies have shown that locating homes and schools near freeways increases the rate of asthma and other diseases in children, but the Los Angeles Unified School District has plans for 7 more school within 500 feet of freeways.</p>

September 26 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>This editorial from Boulder, Colorado's <em>Daily Camera</em> takes a critical look at the projected demographic shifts that some say would be created by a proposed transit village in the city.</p>

September 26 - Boulder Daily Camera

<p>Portland, Oregon's plans to expand its streetcar system are meeting some resistance from the federal government, which has identified bus rapid transit as its pubic transit investment of choice.</p>

September 26 - The Oregonian

<p>Fast-paced growth in Loudoun County, Virginia, has created the need for more schools. In the past 11 years 37 have been built, boasting the precision and efficiency of an assembly line. But is faster better?</p>

September 26 - The Washington Post

This commentary from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer looks at the idea that buildings can make us happy, and asks why we put up with buildings that make us unhappy.

September 26 - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

<p>After years of trying to get more properties built for sale downtown, new urban infill projects are springing up in Sacramento's core.</p>

September 26 - The Sacramento Bee

<p>Clichy-sous-Bois, the Paris suburb that ignited angry rioting amongst France's young minorities in 2005, is still waiting on the government to provide for its struggling populace.</p>

September 26 - Bloomberg

BLOG POST

<p><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana">Since making the switch from architecture to planning / urban design, I’ve been fascinated by the continuing dialogue that surrounds what we do to explain… what we do.<span> </span>There is less emphasis on this dialogue in architecture of course as the tacit assumption is that architects build.<span> </span>(I would say not all great architects need to build but this is a debate for a different setting.)<span> </span>What did often emerge in architecture was the common concern that “design” is not valued to the degree that it should.<span> </span>And why not?<span> </span>Architects spend anywhere from 5-6 years in school the majority of which is spent in studio learning how to design.<span> </span>Who wants to then enter the profession feeling like their education mis-led them?<span>

September 25 - Scott Page

<p>Researchers in the UK are working to create a database of urban sounds -- both the good and the bad -- in an effort to help planners, designers, and architects create cities everyone wants to listen to.</p>

September 25 - The Observer

<p>New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority is considering a plan to charge transit riders less during off-peak hours.</p>

September 25 - The New York Times