The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society warns that industry could jump on Nahanni National Park Reserve and stake claims when an interim ban ends in October unless the federal government grants the reserve permanent protected status.</p>

July 20 - The Canadian Press

<p>Nassau County, NY has released a plan to end homelessness using strategies such as developing a database to track homeless people, assist people at risk for homelessness with landlord/mortgage issues, and build significant new affordable housing.</p>

July 19 - Newsday

<p>Escalating gas prices are depressing, but look on the bright side: a new study shows that they may reduce annual traffic deaths by as much as one-third.</p>

July 19 - Associated Press via Yahoo News

<p>Alexis Madrigal at Wired digs into the stats, and find that the state of California uses more gasoline than any country in the world.</p>

July 19 - Wired

<p>The population of white people in Atlanta is growing larger by the day, a demographic shift many say is bringing about major changes in the city. This article from <em>Governing</em> says other cities are seeing similar trends.</p>

July 19 - Governing

<p>This article from the <em>San Francisco Chronicle</em> argues it's time for a national rail plan.</p>

July 19 - The San Francisco Chronicle

BLOG POST

<p> In early 2008, the <a href="http://www.micd.org">Mayors&#39; Institute on City Design</a> received a generous gift from the <a href="http://www.micd.org/news/micd_tat_pr.htm">Edward W. Rose III Family Fund</a>, directed through the <a href="http://www.nea.gov">National Endowment for the Arts</a>, to support technical assistance teams going into the communities of alumni mayors who have already attended one of our traditional Mayors&#39; Institute sessions. The four cities that we selected for the pilot phase of this work were Santa Rosa, CA, Lincoln, NE, Cincinnati, OH, and Tulsa, OK. </p>

July 18 - Jess Zimbabwe

<p>A young Florida man apparently infatuated with public transit has managed -- on multiple occasions -- to steal buses and drive their routes picking up passengers.</p>

July 18 - The Miami Herald

<p>The New York Sun looks west and finds a lot to love in Houston's cars, growth, and pro-development policies.</p>

July 18 - The New York Sun

<p>According to a recent survey of architects in Ireland, 80% think that local planning decisions do not support good design and are essentially a waste of time.</p>

July 18 - The Irish Times

<p>The Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae crisis is resurrecting the debate over the role the federal government should play in the housing market.</p>

July 18 - The Christian Science Monitor

<p>In this column, Richard Florida argues the decline in the popularity of suburbs is not just a product of rising oil prices, but a result of a new "spatial fix" that is reorganizing how and where people live their lives.</p>

July 18 - The Globe and Mail

<p>A new documentary film looks at the achievements of Michael Reynolds, who for 20 years has been building eco-friendly, off-grid "earth ship" houses built out of natural materials and car tires. </p>

July 18 - The Independent

<p>A new study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shows that living in poor and violent neighborhoods can significantly increase your risk of heart attack or stroke.</p>

July 18 - The Baltimore Sun

<p>The American Human Development Project has determined that the U.S. demonstrates huge disparities in life expectancy and other well-being indicators, based on geography, race, sex and class.</p>

July 18 - The Independent (UK)

<p>San Francisco has been named the most walkable American city by the walkability website WalkScore.</p>

July 18 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>Incidents of violence and vandalism highlight a rising tide of local opposition to teh construction of new mosques in Germany.</p>

July 18 - Der Spiegel

BLOG POST

It&#39;s a unique time to be joining the staff of Planetizen as managing editor. The world seems to be awakening for the first time to all of the issues we deal with everyday, whether we work in urban and regional planning, environmental preservation, architecture and placemaking, landscape architecture or transportation. Suddenly, everyone understands that these niches are, in fact, interconnected, and that &quot;place&quot; as a general concept affects everything we do. Unfortunately, it took $4.85 gasoline and a mortgage crisis that is sinking our economy, but at least people are thinking! <br />

July 17 - Tim Halbur

<p>The much-maligned rail system is being reconsidered, as gas prices and environmental awareness send people looking for solutions. But can Amtrak step up to the plate?</p>

July 17 - Newsweek

<p>Seattle is closing the lid on a disappointing experiment with public toilets after spending $5 million dollars to install them. Cities from Boston to San Francisco have had mixed results with automated toilets, The New York Times reports.</p>

July 17 - The New York Times