The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Housing -- or the lack of it -- remains a major issue in post-Katrina New Orleans.

September 8 - Mother Jones

Merced California typefies the housing bust: speculation, foreclosures, and the construction of houses nobody can afford to buy.

September 8 - The New York Times

FEATURE

Leonardo Vázquez, AICP/PP, applauds recent changes to the AICP Certification Maintenance Program that reduce costs and improve access.

September 8 - Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

Urban chickens have been approved in Fort Collins, Colorado. Some, including one vocal city council member, are not happy about it.

September 8 - Fort Collins Now

That's the question the Vancouver Planning Commission has been tossing around with the public for the last year or so, as they prepare a "Change Charter" for City Hall.

September 8 - The Vancouver Sun

Delays in construction have cased FIFA officials to remove Port Elizabeth from the list of host cities for the 2009 Confederations Cup, the dress rehearsal tournament before the 2010 World Cup. Concerns remain about the country's readiness.

September 7 - Sports Illustrated

BLOG POST

Decades after its founding, New Urbanism design movement retains a serious reputation problems among American urbanists.

September 7 - Robert Goodspeed

The "creative class" is using the Internet and the blog world to drum up new ideas for combating sprawl and placelessness. This article argues it's only a matter of time before these urban thinkers go from blogging to local politics.

September 7 - The St. Petersburg Times

In a certain part of downtown Tampa, Florida, people have been complaining for years about car alarms randomly going off, or not working at all. It turns out that a local radio station's signal interference is the cause.

September 7 - The St. Petersburg Times

In an effort to clean up the poverty ridden area set to host the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, officials have announced plans to place homeless people into housing next summer.

September 7 - The Globe and Mail

This piece from <em>Discover</em> looks at the iconic "invisible" things that define cities -- like Seattle's clouds, Houston's air conditioning, and L.A.'s Botox.

September 7 - Discover

VP hopeful Sarah Palin's hometown of Wasilla, Alaska is proud of its anti-government attitude and anything goes climate for building and planning.

September 6 - The Christian Science Monitor

The enormous traffic in imported goods is generating a huge amount of disease-causing pollution in and around ports, and along trade routes.

September 6 - AlterNet

Forbes keeps churning out the Top 10 Cities lists- this time looking at the best cities for single people.

September 6 - Forbes

Architect Richard Murphy's masterplan for Edinburgh's Haymarket is facing complaints about the height of the hotel. Murphy says, 'Our hotel will breach the skyline, and a jolly good thing too.'

September 6 - bd

Columnist Michael Paul Williams of the Times-Dispatch worries that the planned New Urbanist development in Roseland, VA will turn out to be 'as antiseptic as a theme park."

September 6 - Richmond Times-Dispatch

Stinky trains may become a thing of the past in Berlin, where officials are sniff-testing new fragrances to mask the odors of public transit.

September 5 - Der Spiegel

Football and shopping become one in New England, where the owner of the New England Patriots NFL team has built a $300 million mall and entertainment complex next to the stadium.

September 5 - NPR

The discourse in the current presidential election appears to be pitting rural -- and presumably conservative -- Americans against urban liberals.

September 5 - The Globe and Mail

BLOG POST

<p> I used to have interns. Probably hundreds of them, if you add them up over the years. I lorded over them all—benevolently, of course—while they, with doe eyes and studied eagerness, did whatever they could to impress me and my colleagues. </p> <p> Then this week, at orientation for the University of Pennsylvania’s master of city planning program, I sat in the crowd, one face out of about 70. A plebe once again. </p> <p> Talk about humbling. </p>

September 5 - Jeffrey Barg