The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>Though Boston's historic Ames Building has lain fallow for 10 years, a new infusion of capital will turn this historic "skyscraper" into a four-star boutique hotel.</p>

July 7 - The Boston Globe

<p>New mapping has revealed that part of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border is actually intruding on Mexican land, usurping between 1 and 6 feet of Mexican soil for more than a mile. The U.S. insists it was a mistake, but Mexico wants its land back.</p>

July 6 - Associated Press

<p>Announcing a deal that will further sharpen the fierce competition in the hotel industry, the seemingly insatiable Blackstone Group is set to acquire Hilton Hotels Corp. for more than $26 billion.</p>

July 6 - The Slatin Report

<p>The bald eagle has made a heartening recovery from the brink of extinction. But hundreds of other species are now in grave danger due to slashed budgets, Bush administration policies, and political interference in science.</p>

July 6 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>In New Orleans, some devastated neighborhoods are beginning to come back to life. But for those performing the revitalization, it is a long and often lonely path.</p>

July 6 - The New York Times

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal">This year in <em>Parents Involved in Community Schools Inc. v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County (Ky.) Board of Education</em> the Supreme Court ruled that school districts could not assign students on the basis of race, even if the goal was to promote integration.<span> </span>To some this is the end of an era, with affirmative action and other diversity promoting programs in jeopardy as the court has now come full circle using the <em>Brown </em>decision to outlaw programs that promote integration.<span> </span>Most commentators on this ruling have highlighted the implications for school integration programs and even affirmative action more broadly.<span> </span>But the ruling also speaks to an issue pertinent to planners as well—racial segregation in American cities, and by racial segregation I am referring to the segregation of African Americans who are by far the most segregated group in America.</p>

July 6 - Lance Freeman

<p>Having gone 25 years without a comprehensive review of all routes and operations, officials at MARTA -- metro Atlanta's transit system -- have decided that the time is finally right for an overhaul.</p>

July 6 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

<p>Rural communities lag behind their metropolitan counterparts in terms of access to services and information. Greater investments in telecommunications technology and infrastructure can help bridge these gaps.</p>

July 6 - Center for American Progress

<p>Generating energy from renewable sources such as wind and water often requires stringing new transmission lines to remote areas, a prospect that concerns some environmentalists.</p>

July 6 - California Planning & Development Report

<p>A new report calls on planners in the metropolitan Boston area to significantly alter housing development patterns to avoid a severe loss of land and natural resources by 2030.</p>

July 6 - The Boston Globe

<p>Operators of the emerging high-speed rail lines in Europe are joining forces to improve the way European travelers move around the region. Some hope the partnership could increase competition between rail and low-cost airlines.</p>

July 6 - The Economist

<p>The city may be notorious as one of the fastest-growing and car-dependent urban places in the nations, but as a long-time Phoenix architect points out, the city is rich with history and architecture.</p>

July 6 - Dwell

<p>The world famous landmark is set to be modernized by U.S. architect Michael Adlerstein, who was responsible for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty.</p>

July 5 - The New York Times

<p>The premier rating system for green building and design is being adjusted to correct problems that have arisen as the system has evolved.</p>

July 5 - Interior Design

<p>This editorial from <em>The Sydney Morning Herald</em> looks at how the rise in housing prices in Australia has both short- and long-term negative effects.</p>

July 5 - The Sydney Morning Herald

<p>NOLA human rights lawyer Bill Quigley outlines what he believes were thirty-three deliberate actions on the part of the federal government to undermine recovery in New Orleans.</p>

July 5 - Truthout

<p>With little land left to develop and a declining population in recent years, suburban cities in Ohio are beginning to accept that the only way they can continue to grow is by building up.</p>

July 5 - The Columbus Dispatch

<p>National ridership figures may be down, but grassroots collectives are thriving.</p>

July 5 - The Next American City

<p>Good middle class suburbs aren't sustainable without a vibrant city, and vice versa, argues a recent article in the Houston Chronicle.</p>

July 5 - The Houston Chronicle

<p>Ed Uhlir details the development and maintenance of one of America's most successful urban parks.</p>

July 5 - The Planning Report