The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>President George W. Bush signed into law a package of housing legislation intended to ease the burden on thousands of borrowers who face losing their homes. The legislation will also bail out major mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.</p>

July 30 - The New York Times

<p>A public art piece/commentary on alternative transportation, the Pedal Cloud is a Volkswagen chassis with seats for 10 pedalers and one driver. </p>

July 30 - Pedal Cloud

<p>Paul Shigley reflects on the impact of a Starbucks closing in downtown Redding, a small town in northern California.</p>

July 30 - California Planning & Development Report

<p>Its efforts to reduce air pollution in advance of the Olympics failing, Beijing is considering even more draconian measures, including removing up to 90% of cars from the streets.</p>

July 30 - The Globe and Mail

<p>A surge in demand from China and India -- as well as economic troubles domestically -- are leading to an epidemic of infrastructure and scrap theft in Canada.</p>

July 30 - The Globe and Mail

<p>At a time when highway infrastructure is already facing challenges such as the rising costs of concrete and steel, a change in driving habits is causing a major reduction in available funds.</p>

July 29 - The Wall St. Journal

<p>As the worst recycler amongst the 30 largest American cities, Houston has a lot of trash on its hands. But many obstacles stand in the way of the city closing the loop.</p>

July 29 - The New York Times

<p>The Futurama exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair excited an entire generation about suburbia. At a meeting of the Citistates Group, policy wonks wondered whether it's possible to create a new vision of a Carbon-Free Futurama.</p>

July 29 - California Planning & Development Report

<p>New York's DOT is proposing a new plan to transform Astor Place from feeling like a freeway median to a pedestrian-friendly public space.</p>

July 29 - The Villager

<p>Officials in Fort Worth, Texas weigh regulations for natural gas compression stations arising from a boom in drilling shale for natural gas.</p>

July 29 - Fort Worth Star-Telegram

<p>With few local job opportunities, residents in small towns have grown accustomed to long commutes to cities. But with high gas prices making those commutes unaffordable, some economists wonder how much longer small towns can retain their populations.</p>

July 29 - The Kansas City Star

<p>With increasing amounts of data collected and held by governments, there's a lot of opportunity to make use of it for the betterment of communities, according to this column from Neal Peirce.</p>

July 29 - Citiwire

<p>A small town in Germany is demonstrating that a strategy of distributed, renewable and locally-controlled energy production can not only be Earth-friendly but profitable.</p>

July 29 - Victoria Times-Colonist

<p>San Francisco's Tenderloin district- notoriously seedy and poor- is also one the densest neighborhoods in the city, and greatly in need of fresh produce and groceries. City officials are trying to attract a store, but it's a tough sell.</p>

July 29 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>Whether for exercise, eco-consciousness or necessity, a growing number of suburban New York commuters are using two wheels instead of four.</p>

July 29 - The New York Times

<p>Friends of the Earth president Brent Blackwelder and journalist James S. Henry believe that the federal bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac needs to come with some very green strings attached.</p>

July 28 - The Nation

<p>A recent report by The Australian Commission of Children and Young People reveals that kids in Sydney are too afraid to play outside or ride the bus.</p>

July 28 - The Daily Telegraph, Sydney

<p>It's Gold Rush days long since passed, Canada's Yukon Territory was until recently a wild, myth-bound place. But now oil and gas revenues are fueling new construction and population growth.</p>

July 28 - The Globe & Mail

<p>1,300 property owners in Camden, New Jersey whose homes are in a new redevelopment zone were sent letters explaining eminent domain, but the city says it has no intention of taking their homes.</p>

July 28 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

BLOG POST

<p> <span> <!--[endif]--></span><span>As a grassroots North American organization for “people involved in planning,” <a href="http://www.plannersnetwork.org/">Planners Network</a> (PN) attracts not just professionals and academics but laypersons and activists as well. This year’s PN conference was a dramatic debut for the <a href="http://www.pnmb.org/">Winnipeg chapter of PN</a>, which was only formed in January of 2006. The conference title, “Flat not Boring” was an amusing reference to southern Manitoba’s notoriously unvarying geography.

July 28 - Michael Dudley