The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>Columnist Steven Greenhut argues that Smart Growth ideologies mistakenly treat suburbia as a sin, and examines contracy evidence from a new study on suburban isolation and Wendell Cox's book, "War on the Dream."</p>

December 12 - Orange County Register

<p>A startling recent report shows that when land use (such as forest degradation) is taken into account, livestock presents a greater threat to climate change than the transportation sector.</p>

December 12 - Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations newsroom

<p>As poverty increases in Brazil and small farmers are pushed off of their lands into the overcrowded city's and ghettos, some groups are doing whatever it takes to re-distribute farmland to the poor.</p>

December 12 - Adbusters

<p>The Kansas City Star newspaper created an extensive methodology to do a report card on city neighborhood trends and then rank the best neighborhoods within Kansas City, Missouri.</p>

December 12 - The Kansas City Star

<p>Urban design, housing for homeless people, and planning for decreased population are highlighted in the New York Times Magazine's annual survey of innovative ideas.</p>

December 12 - The New York Times

<p>World's tallest skyscrapers tend to top out just as economic growth cycles end. With megatowers in Taipei, Shanghai, and Dubai are nearing completion, will the "skyscraper curse" kick in yet again?</p>

December 12 - Bloomberg News

<p>A new study released by a University of Toronto researcher suggests that sprawl is not necessarily the cause of the obesity widely reported to exist in sprawling areas, but rather obese people may simply be attracted to sprawl.</p>

December 12 - The Chicago Tribune

<p>In rural Kansas, a fight continues over a 5,500-acre prairie dog colony. Some ranchers and environmental groups want to preserve the area, while many property owners and local officials advocate eradication.</p>

December 12 - The New York Times

<p>Land has been purchased for what will be Oakland's fourth cohousing project, a collection of about 33 housing units with an underlying purpose of cooperation and community. Similar community housing projects are cropping up across the country.</p>

December 12 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>The new form of the shopping mall -- lifestyle centers -- are fulfilling the original destiny of the American mall by "re-creating the essence of urban life", writes Virginia Postrel in a Los Angeles Times opinion.</p>

December 11 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Close to half of Iraq's fragile marshlands have been restored after being drained by Saddam Hussein.</p>

December 11 - Seed Magazine

<p>Buyers from other parts of the country are threatening to snap up the supply of homes before they can get to storm victims.</p>

December 11 - The Clarion-Ledger

<p>The "housing bubble" isn't the only threat facing the U.S. economy: the problem is compounded by the securitization of risky mortgages on international money markets -- which are going to be in trouble as defaults increase.</p>

December 11 - Money Week

<p>A growing number of exclusive gated communities in remote areas, dubbed "The New Ruralism", is raising eyebrows among planners, environmentalists, and local residents.</p>

December 11 - Utne Reader

<p>In California, the largest river restoration project in the West has begun as water formerly directed from the Owens River to the Los Angeles Aqueduct is rerouted along 62 miles of its original path to Owens Lake in Central California.</p>

December 11 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>A special election in Lakewood, Colorado, asks voters to decide if the city should trade 22 acres of public parkland with 22 acres of less-than pristine land owned by a developer. Opponents fear the traded parkland would immediately be developed.</p>

December 11 - Denver Westword

<p>A developer with big plans for a mixed-use complex has offered the City of Anaheim, California, $150 million dollars for land that the NFL has been scouting for a new franchise stadium.</p>

December 11 - KTLA5

FEATURE

As part of a monthly series, we present a summary and analysis of some of the most interesting news to appear on Planetizen over the month of November 2006. This is the transcript of an audio segment that originally aired on the nationally syndicated radio program "Smart City".

December 11 - Nate Berg

FEATURE

Disaster recovery expert Robert B. Olshansky reports on the latest planning effort in New Orleans.

December 11 - Robert B. Olshansky

<p>While plans for three BRT lines are in the works, a shortage of transit funds is threatening to keep them from becoming reality -- at least any time soon.</p>

December 11 - Minnesota Public Radio