The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>A look at how the specter of Boston's Big Dig cast a dark shadow over proposed freeway replacement plans in Seattle and other cities.</p>

March 17 - The Boston Globe

<p>New York City officials hope that a recently approved rezoning for Harlem will revive the neighborhood.</p>

March 17 - The Economist

<p>The Department of Transportation under President Bush has placed an emphasis on market-based measures such as toll roads to alleviate congestion, and this has public transit advocates worried that the Federal government sees no role for transit.</p>

March 17 - The Washington Post

<p>In an unlikely meeting of minds, environmentalists, the Port of Portland and other industrial groups have come together to request funding for the protection of sensitive waterfront habitats along the Willamette River.</p>

March 17 - The Portland Tribune

<p>Residents in the small town of Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island are starting a citywide carpooling program to help provide for people without cars after the city's underused public transit system was shut down.</p>

March 17 - The Vancouver Sun

<p>Neighborhood opposition is hampering plans to convert a section of New York City's Prince Street into a car-free pedestrian mall every Sunday.</p>

March 17 - The Villager

<p>This report from <em>Progressive Urban Management Associates</em> outlines the ten trends that will impact downtowns over the next two decades.</p>

March 17 - Downtown Idea Exchange

<p>Washington D.C. has begun to make key green parking reforms that will plow parking revenue into neighborhood bicycling and walking improvements.</p>

March 17 - Streetsblog

FEATURE

March 17 - Shannon Sanders McDonald, AIA

<p>With their high concentrations of marginalized Aboriginal residents, the Canadian prairie cities of Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg are ranked the top 3 most "dangerous" cities in the country in the latest Macleans Magazine survey.</p>

March 16 - Macleans

<p>A new report from the <em>American Public Transportation Association</em> hypothesizes that people who live in places shaped by transit tend to drive less thereby reducing their overall petroleum use and their carbon footprint.</p>

March 16 - American Public Transportation Association (APTA)

<p>Israel's 450-mile long "security fence" is causing controversy not just because of the opposition of Palestinians in the West Bank, but because it will run through sensitive habitat and affect the ability of wildlife to access food and water.</p>

March 16 - Orion

<p>In Miami, speculators inflated the housing market by buying and flipping condos. Now with the market deflating and a host of condo towers still under construction, Miami may be the worst major real estate market in the world.</p>

March 16 - The Globe & Mail

<p>Stan Cox argues that the massive square footage of so many modern houses -- no matter how "energy efficient" the construction -- is a luxury the planet can no longer afford.</p>

March 16 - Common Dreams

BLOG POST

<p> <font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Often, planners and economists seem to be at odds. Actually, a better description would be talking past each other—literally two ships passing in the night.</font> </p> <p> <font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Planners often think economists are too narrowly focused on dollars, cents, and rational decisionmaking. Economists can’t understand why planners don’t recognize the real world of markets and why incentives matter—a lot. </font> </p>

March 15 - Samuel Staley

<p>This report from <em>Weekend America</em> talks with an urban food forager and looks at how to find food on the street in L.A.</p>

March 15 - Weekend America

<p>This article from the <em>Albany Times Union</em> looks at the importance of using a regional approach to addressing poverty, crime and inner city blight.</p>

March 15 - Albany Times Union

<p>Officials in D.C. have sought to punish Philadelphia's Housing Director for not selling a vacant property to a friend of the HUD Secretary. The city was then found in violation of rules, and could now lose $50 million in housing funds.</p>

March 15 - The Washington Post

<p>Burial space has already run out on Nantucket Island, but Massachusetts law requires burial spaces for anyone dying within town limits. Now officials are scrambling to find a place for their dead to go.</p>

March 15 - The Nantucket Independent

<p>A severe drought in Australia has cut into the country's wheat production -- and pushed prices up all over the world.</p>

March 15 - BBC