The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

BLOG POST

<span style="font-size: small"> <p> In a past post, I wrote on the plan to urbanize Vancouver&#39;s Oakridge Centre, our first car-oriented &quot;suburban&quot; shopping centre <a href="/node/35542" target="_blank">(see past post here for information, report-links and images)</a>. Some have asked how the downturn has affected the plans to proceed - as we were only anticipating going through the next steps of planning and design (rezoning) in the next year or so, with some time before the owners were planning on initiating the physical transformation of the mall, I believe they remain in &quot;wait-and-see&quot; mode regarding possible timing of first phases, relative to the market.

March 30 - Brent Toderian

BLOG POST

Since the passage of <a href="http://www.fcc.gov/telecom.html">The Telecommunications Act of 1996</a>, media activists have been warning that a combination of consolidated corporate ownership of media outlets and a correspondingly intense profit orientation is resulting in diminished diversity of opinion, an avoidance of controversies and loss of choice for media consumers. In particular, they are concerned that remotely-owned newspapers, television and radio stations are incapable of adequately meeting local information needs, reporting on local issues and expressing local concerns.<br />

March 30 - Michael Dudley

As business slows down, road construction contractors are slashing their prices. They're offering lower bids to states across the country for road work, leading many transportation officials to foresee more work able to be funded by the stimulus.

March 30 - The New York Times

Population estimates mean that the Portland region will need about 300,000 additional homes by 2030. Where they should all go is up for debate.

March 30 - The Oregonian

This report from <em>KQED</em> radio looks at efforts to craft a replacement for the Kyoto Protocols.

March 30 - KQED

The stimulus plan includes $8 billion for investments in high-speed rail, but some critics point out that this isn't nearly enough to bring these plans to fruition.

March 30 - MSNBC

Nicolai Ouroussoff, architecture critic for The New York Times, argues that the time is right for a new vision of rebirth for America's ailing cities. He applies this new vision to the challenges of New Orleans, Los Angeles, the Bronx, and Buffalo.

March 30 - The New York Times

Small farms are getting some attention from the Obama Administration, but what's still holding them back is the proper infrastructure, according to this piece from <em>Citiwire</em>.

March 30 - Citiwire

Paul Goldberger looks at the two new baseball stadia opening in New York this Spring.

March 30 - The New Yorker

This piece from the <em>San Francisco Chronicle</em> takes readers inside the world of a historical ecologists -- one who tries to document what landscapes used to be and how they've evolved over time.

March 30 - San Francisco Chronicle

L.A. is boiling with billboard drama right now. <em>Los Angeles Times</em> architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne looks at the debate and argues that signage can have a positive role in the urban landscape.

March 30 - Los Angeles Times

The entire country is in recession, but the nation's ports are experiencing a flood of interest from investors, according to this article from <em>Reason</em>.

March 30 - Reason Foundation

BLOG POST

Over a year ago <a href="/node/28197" target="_blank">I blogged about</a> a conference of urban historians where the group debated a talk, titled &quot;Whither the Region?,&quot; where historian Greg Hise observed the group was talking about regional history less. In my response, I suggested several causes: limited decision-making at the regional level in America, center city biases among historical sources like newspapers, and metropolitan areas growing to encompass entire regions due to urban sprawl. I also observed that although it may go <em>unstudied</em> by the group, a good number of regional planning organizations and agencies do exist.<br />

March 29 - Robert Goodspeed

In this testimonial to Congress, the Brookings Institution's Robert Puentes argues that housing and transportation are irreversibly linked and that, in the face of the current recession, more integrated planning is needed.

March 29 - Brookings

Global water shortages are an issue the Obama Administration will need to address, according to this piece from <em>Citiwire</em>.

March 29 - Citiwire

Without a proper light rail system, Sydney will get left behind as other global cities progress into a diverse transit future, according to planning expert Peter Newman.

March 29 - The Sydney Morning Herald

The smart grid is not as hard to define as some have suggested. Jesse Berst, managing director of Global Smart Energy says making it work will be tough, but it's really just a matter of coordinating three crucial aspects, according to Worldchanging.

March 29 - WorldChanging

What light is right? How much is too much? These questions don't typically get asked in cities, as they simply rely on what they've always done. But now the Municipal Art Society in New York is bringing these issues to the table.

March 29 - The New Yorker

BLOG POST

<p> Let me start with a disclaimer: I am not a transportation planner. At the points where transportation planning shares borders with engineering, I tend to zone out and start doodling in the margins. I do, however, have a lifelong interest in transportation, which is why I share the excitement of some of my more transportation-focused colleagues about potential changes in how California measures transportation impacts of projects. </p>

March 28 - Lisa Feldstein

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann has signed a law that allows for the creation of transit oriented districts around the city's recently approved regional train system.

March 28 - Honolulu Star-Bulletin