The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

FEATURE

December 1 - Richard Moe

Outdated funding mechanisms and systemwide maintenance issues ensure that the next transportation secretary will have a full plate during the Obama administration.

December 1 - The Washington Post

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman">Economic stimulation is an important issue these days. Let’s be smart when choosing economic stimulation strategies. </span> </p>

November 30 - Todd Litman

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> With the return to prominence of physical planning and increasing use of GIS, planning students are becoming interested in developing portfolios of their work. This blog entry provides tips for this process exploring why portfolios are useful, who they are aimed at, and how to design the portfolio. It provides many of the resources needed to design your own! </p>

November 30 - Ann Forsyth

Turning a New York landfill into a park may just reorganize the way people think about public parks in America.

November 30 - New York Magazine

Local and regional governments in Riverside County, California, have assembled a "Red Team" task force to mitigate the impacts of the foreclosure crisis in the fastest growing region in the state.

November 30 - The Planning Report

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has an ambitious plan to get L.A. to go solar. Still, without a proper financial analysis, skeptics find it too lofty to be true.

November 30 - Los Angeles Times

This year, oil prices in America rose to heights drivers had never seen. So they cut back on driving. But that reduction is now causing oil prices to fall back down, and many say drivers will soon revert to old habits.

November 30 - The Wall Street Journal

Evangelical pastor Rev. Jack L. Wisor was giving shelter to four homeless people in his church in downtown Brookville, PA. When he was ordered to move them on a zoning violation, Wisor - and the ACLU - sued the city.

November 30 - The New York Times

London mayor Boris Johnson is facing backlash for withdrawing money from bike route funds to rephase traffic lights, among other things. The move is less than effective for making London a "true cycling city," say critics.

November 29 - Guardian (UK)

China's stimulus plan is aimed at funding more of what the country already has enough of: infrastructure. What's needed is social spending and for citizens to have more of a stake in the economy, argues Zhiwu Chen.

November 29 - The Globe and Mail

The key to solving global poverty is possessing secure land and property tenure, according to this opinion piece. Having such security enables poor communities, even those here at home, to make demands from their governments.

November 29 - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The stream of Washington bailouts is a doomed attempt to revive a 'zombie economy', argues James Howard Kunstler. He believes we need to start organizing new, local economies built around growing food, making things and transporting them by rail.

November 29 - James Kunstler's Blog

Floods of British expatriates moving to Mumbai are finding the city practically as competitive and sometimes even more expensive than home.

November 29 - BBC

Lionel is offering its first ever model subway set, recreating the New York subway system complete with station announcements and subway sounds.

November 28 - The New York Times

A town planner from Brisbane, Australia, has been crowned the beauty-queen face of an annual open-air motor racing event.

November 28 - Gold Coast Bulletin

Appalachia, long known as one of the poorest parts of the U.S. with chronically high unemployment, finds itself in the enviable position of enjoying remarkably low unemployment due to unwavering demand for its main natural resource – coal.

November 28 - The Wall Street Journal

Not even the Christmas season is expected to turn things around for struggling retailers, which are dropping like leaves and littering vacancies in shopping centers across the country.

November 28 - Los Angeles Times

For years, citizens have been calling for a freeway cap and park in Hollywood. Now, a preliminary design has been released and advocates say work could begin as soon as 2012 -- if funding comes through.

November 28 - Los Angeles Times

Enterprising Native American communities are using their sovereignty to approve large projects that would be difficult to clear on neighboring lands, like landfills and casinos. Industry is happy to oblige, and directly targets the Native market.

November 27 - Center for Public Integrity