The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>A team of planners in Akron are trying to create some optimism for the future of one of the city's most blighted stretches of highway.</p>

October 21 - Akron Beacon Journal

<p>A developer with plans for a major urban development in Bethesda, Maryland is trying to buy out an established community of 60 single-family homes.</p>

October 21 - The Washington Post

<p>The concept of using cultural facilities to spur economic development was pioneering by this Spanish rust belt city 10 years ago. Today, many cities want to follow in its footsteps.</p>

October 21 - The Art Newspaper

<p>Government officials in Rwanda are looking to the high-tech sector as a way to bring the country into economic viability. Rwanda is wiring up in hopes of becoming Africa's tech center.</p>

October 21 - The Christian Science Monitor

<p>Law enforcement in Sacramento, California are using urban design to reduce crime in the city.</p>

October 20 - The Sacramento Bee

<p>Desperate for jobs and tax revenue, the City of Detroit has permitted its three original casino operators to build new larger complexes.</p>

October 20 - The Guardian Unlimited

<p>Traditional public housing complexes are on the way out in Atlanta as the city looks to move all of its low-income residents to a system of renting with Section 8 housing vouchers.</p>

October 20 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

<p>San Francisco and Los Angeles will turn off their lights tonight in a voluntary effort to show how simple changes in behavior can have a big effect, especially on big city skylines.</p>

October 20 - The Christian Science Monitor

<p>A local columnist touts Sacramento, California, as an up and coming star in the green city movement.</p>

October 20 - Sacramento News Review

<p>Philadelphia has appointed a Zoning Reform Commission to rewrite its 1962 Code. Two leaders who advocated for the rewrite share what they learned from other cities.</p>

October 19 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

<p>A European experiment that removed traffic signs to improve pedestrian safety has spread to Australia.</p>

October 19 - The Sydney Morning Herald

<p>Residents say the state's smart growth policies have done little to reign in sprawl, though questions remain about what action to take.</p>

October 19 - The Baltimore Sun

<p>In Houston, the only major U.S. city with no zoning laws, plans to construct a high-rise condo complex in an affluent neighborhood have residents outraged.</p>

October 19 - The Wall Street Journal

<p>Emerging trends in five European cities suggest what could be ahead for the U.S. development environment, observes author Michael Mehaffy.</p>

October 19 - Urban Land

<p>Two years after a prior proposal failed to pass, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has once again challenged the city's developers to help solve L.A.'s affordable housing crisis by including lower-cost units in new projects.</p>

October 19 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Toronto is positioning itself to become a world model for sustainable waterfront development and has now completed the design phase of a 30 year effort. Urban planner Mary Vogel sets out to explore whether they are meeting their mark.</p>

October 19 - Urban Land

<p>California voters are likely to decide on two eminent domain initiatives in 2008. One is a very limited measure backed by local government organizations, while the other is a far-reaching measure that would also prohibit rent control.</p>

October 19 - California Planning & Development Report

<p>This post from <em>Salon</em> shows a video of a train that travels right through a market in Bangkok.</p>

October 19 - Salon

<p>Six social housing projects built in 1920s Berlin by such architects as Walter Gropius and Bruno Taut are being considered for preservation as UNESCO sites.</p>

October 19 - Der Spiegel

<p>While other cities may be perfect examples of textbook urbanism, Toronto's diversity and rough edges makes it an especially useful model for 21st century cities, observes one planner.</p>

October 18 - The National Post