The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

As the small South Asian country prepares to enter the World Trade Organization, economists predict a drastic change of pace in the locally-driven economy as corporate retail is bound to take over.

June 19 - Der Spiegel

A new book, "This Land", by former Boston Globe journalist Anthony Flint represents a "A calm voice in the cross fire over sprawl", writes urban affairs columnist John King.

June 18 - The San Francisco Chronicle

With the help of the Romney administration, transit oriented development is taking off in eastern Massachusetts.

June 18 - The Boston Globe

President George Bush plans to establish the world's largest protected ocean site, an act which will preserve a sensitive coral reef ecosystem on islands and atolls near Hawaii.

June 18 - Herald Sun

A controversial home remodel has generated a difficult situation for Andrew Adelman, general manager of the L.A. Department of Building and Safety, who approved a project later found by a judge to violate the city's own zoning laws.

June 18 - The Los Angeles Times

Even though universities in D.C. help by renting out empty dorm rooms, the tight market for rental housing in and near downtown D.C. impacts summer interns, who sometimes pay over $1,000 per month for the most modest of housing accomodations.

June 18 - Wahington Post

Most municipalities strictly prohibit mixed-use development. Changing these laws to encourage compact development would reduce the nation's dependence on gas, writes Anthony Flint.

June 17 - The Boston Globe

More Chinese are buying cars, but the government urges them to keep on cycling.

June 17 - The Guardian

Despite criticism from low-income tenants, federal housing officials report that some 5,000 public housing units in Katrina-torn New Orleans will be razed and replaced with mixed-income housing.

June 17 - The New York Times

Auden Schendler wonders why you can't buy an eco-friendly house in any average subdivision in America.

June 17 - Grist Magazine

A report by the United Nations concludes that three decades of efforts to address urban poverty have failed.

June 17 - The Financial Times

A Father's Day gift that Dad could use.

June 16 - Joy of Tech

Six of the world's fastest-growing megacities are examined in terms of their most pressing problems and what they are doing to address them.

June 16 - Foreign Policy

Environmentalists criticesd a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decision to change a measure designed to protect groundwater near oil drilling sites and other construction zones.

June 16 - The Los Angeles Times

The City of Boston combed Newbury Street yesterday to penalize two dozen stores who were in violation of its strict sidewalk signage code.

June 16 - The Boston Globe

Once a deeply religious province of Canada, Quebec has seen such a steep decline in church attendance that it now faces the dilemma of what to do with some 4,000 places of worship -- some of which are being converted to condos.

June 16 - The Globe and Mail

The Dallas Observer's city hall blog has been tracking -- literally by the minute -- the city's proposed comprehensive plan that's pushing mixed use development and meeting a local government's support, skepticism, and outright absenteeism.

June 16 - The Dallas Observer

Wendell Cox weighs the true costs over the reported costs of creating a high speed train system for cities between San Diego and Sacramento. He offers opposition to a very expensive and likely underused project.

June 16 - Orange County Register

In a wide-ranging article, the Wall Street Journal profiles America's ongoing "wars on poverty" over the decades, and details what the future might hold for anti-poverty programs. The "Great Society" efforts of the past seem to be over.

June 16 - The Wall Street Journal

Many of those who lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina or Rita struggle daily with the 240 square foot FEMA trailer.

June 16 - The New York Times