The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Many things came together for light rail to come to Charlotte, starting in 1996. Key was perseverance by a conservative mayor, a volunteer group that started a historic trolley, voters who supported a sales tax, and experienced transit professionals

July 8 - Grist: Cities of the Future

A decade after its inception, Shanghai's One City, Nine Towns project, an ambitious attempt to manage the city's massive population growth via the creation of international-themed satellite communities, has failed to deliver hoped-for results.

July 7 - Assembly

The Korean Housing Institute claims that housing prices are more inflated in Korea than they've ever been in the States, and prices have begun to fall precipitously.

July 7 - The Korea Times

Famed architect Peter Calthorpe has designed several large developments planned for the San Francisco Bay Area, but some local environmentalist groups aren't satisfied that they are green enough.

July 7 - The New York Times - Bay Citizen

The Michigan State Fair, the oldest state fair in the nation, won't happen this summer. Gov. Jennifer Granholm nixed the state's usual subsidy due to the serious strain on the state's budget.

July 7 - Governing Magazine

Mayor Villaraigosa must appoint a planning director who will overcome the sprawling bureaucracy that has hindered much of the LA's endeavors, says the Los Angeles Times.

July 7 - Los Angeles Times

Former California Governor (and current gubernatorial candidate) Jerry Brown may be the only person able to give the state a clean energy policy -- mainly because he's already done it before, according to this article.

July 7 - Mother Jones

Mudslides and unstable housing are common in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro where officials are trying to get people to relocate to safer areas.

July 7 - BBC

A proposed move of the Tampa Bay Rays professional baseball team has officials in the region scrambling to make plans for a new rail line to accommodate the team's future home.

July 7 - St. Petersburg Times

The opening of the Brooklyn Bridge Park and other waterfront attractions in New York has many people rediscovering their waterfront. But as this op-ed argues, the waterfront can't be reclaimed as it was never even claimed in the first place.

July 7 - The New York Times

Columnist Dan Walters looks at issues coming before California voters this November that could revise the traditional "American Dream" within the state -- or undo efforts to change it.

July 7 - Fresno Bee

This feature from <em>New York</em> magazine looks at the increasingly attractive option of introducing more bus rapid transit lines into New York City.

July 6 - New York

2,300 auto dealerships have closed in the U.S. since 2009. 649 of those have been redeveloped, becoming lumberyards, schools, chain drug stores, and groceries.

July 6 - The New York Times

In the aftermath of a brief power blackout that basically shut down large parts of Toronto, Marcus Gee ponders the vulnerability of modern cities and their "pathetic" dependence on electricity.

July 6 - The Globe and Mail

A Queens 16-year-old teamed up with a Brooklyn entrepreneur to save the route after turned down by state legislators. The route was among three dozen others eliminated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority as austerity measures on June 26.

July 6 - New York Daily News

Naming Richard Florida, Carol Coletta and ULI as pro-urban forces, Joel Kotkin accuses them of having "wishful thinking" in regards to the back-to-the-city movement. Kotkin says people want single-family homes, not condos.

July 6 - The Wall St. Journal

Student Anthony Lau put together a not-so-fantastical proposal to redevelop retired ships and platforms in the Thames River into new communities.

July 6 - BLDGBLG

The Washington Post's Ezra Klein suggests readers watch this 20-minute TED video featuring Georgia Tech's Ellen Dunham Jones, author of "Retrofitting Suburbia." Jones talks to the importance of making suburbs greener by retrofitting to urbanize them.

July 6 - Washington Post: Ezra Klein

Officials in London have announced a plan to link the city's 2012 Olympics venues through a system of cable cars.

July 6 - Guardian

Once a major part of cities transportation networks, streetcars have over the last half a century devolved into mere tourist attractions and novelties. But the pendulum may be swinging back.

July 6 - Governing