The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

As the San Diego Planning Department folds into another department to save city money, locals and former officials grapple with whether it was the right move and how the city could change as a result.

July 13 - The Architect's Newspaper

Climate Central intern Ruthie Nachmany writes how one conference on energy envisions individuals taking a role in being energy efficient, while another conference prefers cities creating systems that can lead to energy efficiency.

July 13 - Climate Central

HafenCity, a neighborhood in the Hamburg docklands, is sprouting into a model redevelopment project by caring for the human element and adapting the port's cultural history into the physical landscape.

July 13 - Mother Nature Network

Australia's first term prime minister Julia Gillard announced a carbon tax that will charge $23 per metric ton. Though Australia is one of the world's top carbon polluters, the program will start next year, reports Sarah Laskow, GOOD Magazine.

July 13 - GOOD Magazine

Federal officials are being sent to work in six cities including Detroit, Cleveland and New Orleans to help coordinate local officials to "tap federal funds and leverage local and regional resources," The Wall Street Journal's Sharon Terlep reports.

July 13 - The Wall Street Journal

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">When the Planetizen team set up the Interchange blog section in early 2007 they invited half a dozen academics, and dozens of others, to blog. This is my 54^th entry in that (monthly) series. I’m about to start dealing with some new topics--like big ideas in planning--but thought I should do a little research to see which of my past blogs people have been reading.</span> <br />

July 13 - Ann Forsyth

The cities hosting the 2014 World Cup in Brazil have been awarded an infusion of $6 billion from the Inter-American Development Bank to fund urban mobility and other efforts ahead of the event.

July 13 - The City Fix

When Toronto City Councilor Kristyn Wong-Tam wanted to raise money for a street redesign project, she went directly to the private sector. They raised the money and recently released the master plan for their proposed street project.

July 13 - Globe and Mail

A Superior Court Judge has ordered the jailing of the builder of an elaborate and eccentric set of unpermitted buildings in the exurbs north of Los Angeles.

July 13 - Salon

Plans to redesign the expanded publicly accessible section of the White House's front lawn combine both walkability concerns and safety concerns.

July 13 - The Architect's Newspaper

Despite a budget significantly smaller than his predecessors had, Los Angeles Planning Director Michael LoGrande is hoping to bring about major changes in the way the city gets things done.

July 13 - LA Downtown News

A new finding by Univ. of Wisconsin Population Health Institute reveals that when the health variable is isolated, suburban living beats living in the city and in rural areas.

July 12 - The Wall Street Journal

Six pilot cities are selected for the launch of a new federal, interagency initiative know as 'Strong Cities, Strong Communities': Fresno, New Orleans, Detroit, Cleveland, Memphis and Chester, PA.

July 12 - The White House blog

In a two-part podcast, James Howard Kunstler dissects Ed Glaeser's recent presentation at CNU. Kunstler's main argument is that Glaeser's theories are based in past evidence - Kunstler believes scarcity of energy is going to change everything.

July 12 - The KunstlerCast

Increasingly seen as an ineffective tool, the property tax limiting Proposition 13 has been derided in California for decades. Now, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa looks to be willing to argue against the politically sensitive law.

July 12 - Los Angeles Times

A group of mayor in the metropolitan Vancouver area have proposed an increase in the gas tax to develop a fund for a long-stalled transit project.

July 12 - The Globe and Mail

The Council of Community & Economic Research pulled together data on the 340+ urban areas in the U.S. and determined which are the most affordable to live in. Texas cities come out on top.

July 12 - Bloomberg BusinessWeek

While some have pigeonholed him as anti-business, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn is taking the city through the recovery of the economy in a positive but potentially hard-to-swallow way, according to this column.

July 12 - The Seattle Times

Rail projects throughout the U.S. are hard hit by the downturn in the economy. The agencies behind them are trying to find ways to keep the projects from falling apart.

July 12 - Architect Magazine

New playground designs are shaking up public parks around the world. So long, slides, hello interpretive playscapes.

July 12 - Dwell