The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Oil Wealth Fuels Saskatchewan Growth

<p>Thanks to oil and gas development, the cities in the once-sleepy Canadian province of Saskatchewan are now facing a construction boom.</p>

October 25 - The Globe & Mail

Growth Pushes People Into Fireplace

<p>Increased development in wooded and fire-prone areas is one of the major causes of California's recent "megafires".</p>

October 25 - The Christian Science Monitor

Flip That Brownfield

<p>As brownfield redevelopment escapes from its "avoid-at-all-costs" stigma, <em>Sustainable Industries</em> offers a look at five common remediation and redevelopment projects for the country's brownfields.</p>

October 25 - Sustainable Industries

Houston: Peak Oil Metaphor?

<p>James Howard Kunstler attends the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO) and finds downtown Houston a "ghastly" environment that shows that even without zoning a city can achieve "miserable" results.</p>

October 25 - Energy Bulletin

The Struggle To Clean Up Cairo's Air

<p>Cairo has one of the most severe air pollution problems in the world. Now efforts are underway to clean up the source of much of this pollution, the brick manufacturing industry.</p>

October 25 - AlterNet


What Canada Can Learn From U.S. Cities

<p>An urban renaissance is underway in many American cities, one fueled by the "common sense" of focusing on fundamentals. Canadian cities are looking south to pick up some good ideas.</p>

October 24 - The Globe & Mail

Flashback: Ignoring Warnings, Feds Cut San Diego Fire Prevention Funds

<p>This past April, agencies responsible for fire prevention in the San Diego area were warning the Bush Administration not to cut funding for deadwood removal, saying it was only a matter of time before another major fire.</p>

October 24 - The San Diego Union-Tribune


The Ugliest City In America - The People, That Is

<p>Survey says: Philadelphians are the ugliest (and perhaps the fattest) people in the U.S, while the beach-loving residents of San Diego and Miami are the most gorgeous.</p>

October 24 - Yahoo News

The New American Dream

<p>Walkable neighborhoods will be the new American dream, according to land strategist and developer Chris Leinberger in this interview from <em>Smart City</em>.</p>

October 24 - Smart City

Not Putting Out The Fire With Land Use Planning

<p>As fires devastate Southern California and cause the evacuation of more than half million people, Bill Fulton laments how land use planning has largely been ignored as a fire risk reduction method.</p>

October 24 - California Planning & Development Report

Urban Renewal For Whom?

<p>Urban renewal projects intended to help the poor in struggling neighborhoods really do the opposite, writes Timothy B. Lee.</p>

October 24 - The American

Soaking It Up In Seattle

<p>Permeable surfaces in Seattle offer ideas on how cities can best deal with the environmental problems of urban runoff.</p>

October 24 - Terrain

Cementing The Road To Climate Change

<p>The booming production and use of cement is the single largest material contributor to climate change.</p>

October 24 - International Herald Tribune

If The Youth Can't Rent, They Probably Won't Stay

<p>Low vacancy rates are threatening to push younger populations out of Vancouver.</p>

October 24 - The Globe and Mail

BLOG POST

Horsepower vs Horse Power and Sustainability

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">How sustainable is the internal combustion engine? The answer depends, in part, on your historical perspective. This point becomes startlingly evident in a recent article by UCLA doctoral student Eric Morris in the most recent issue of </font><a href="http://www.uctc.net/access/access30.shtml"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3" color="#800080">Access magazine</font></a><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">. The magazine publishes accessible versions of academic research and is published by the University of California Transportation Center at Berkeley. </font></p>

October 24 - Samuel Staley

Space Race Is Over, But Russian Launching Pad Still Booms

<p>The Russian space program's launching pad is located in the remote Central Asian city of Baikonur, and as space tourism gains popularity, the city's economy is thriving.</p>

October 24 - Associated Press via Physorg.com

BLOG POST

The Future of Presence

<p> I spent a few days last week in Newcastle, England - a real gem of a town for tech history enthusiasts and urbanists. Newcastle is where the first steam trains and railways were built at the dawn of the industrial revolution. It was the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/launch_ani_rocket.shtml">demonstration</a> of Robert <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephenson's_Rocket">Stephenson&#39;s </a><em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephenson's_Rocket">Rocket</a></em> in 1829 in Newcastle that you might mark as the beginning of mass mechanical mobility.

October 23 - Anthony Townsend

Cities Also To Blame In Warming

<p>With many studies expounding on the urban 'heat island' effect, it seems that global climate change can be blamed on cities just as much as suburbs -- if not more so. Joel Kotkin and Ali Modarres explain, and propose a greener suburb for the future.</p>

October 23 - The Washington Post

Instant Shelter For Disaster Areas

<p>This slideshow from <em>Wired</em> shows some examples of temporary, quick-build housing that can be used in post-disaster situations.</p>

October 23 - Wired

Fire-Prone Suburban Southwest Built At 'Catastrophic' Densities

<p>Burgeoning migration to the American southwest has resulted in suburban expansion into wilderness areas prone to fires, which are now more severe due to the impacts of climate change.</p>

October 23 - The Globe & Mail

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