The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>Rapid building and public works projects are destroying much of the natural environment in Japan, a country that lays 25 to 30 times more concrete than the U.S.</p>

October 11 - NPR

<p>The Reason Foundation's Sam Staley offers ideas for improving the way roads work, placing emphasis on improved tolling and mapping.</p>

October 11 - Newsday

<p>The tourism industry is booming along the Mayan Riviera on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Many are worried that the ever-increasing supply of hotels and the flood of tourists will displace most of the area's local residents and hurt the environment.</p>

October 11 - The Christian Science Monitor

<p>This blog post from <em>Grist</em> looks at the often unjustifiable fear associated with biking. Author Alan Durning discusses injury rates and offers advice on how cyclists can pedal their way through cities without being killed.</p>

October 11 - Grist

<p>This report form <em>NPR</em> looks at the threats associated with building schools near freeways, and how those threats are not easy to avoid in Los Angeles.</p>

October 11 - NPR

<p>As more of the "creative class" moves to Staten Island, the area enjoys a boost in hipness.</p>

October 11 - The New York Times

<p>In the struggling city of Lawrence, Massachusetts, sub-prime mortgage foreclosures are threatening the community's stability and the longterm viability of the city's minority and working class neighborhoods.</p>

October 10 - The Boston Globe

<p>CP&amp;DR's Aaron Engstrom's offers his irreverent take on his very first APA conference.</p>

October 10 - California Planning & Development Report

<p>Urban ethnic enclaves are nothing new. But Peace Village, just north of Toronto, is: it's Canada's first all-Muslim subdivision, where houses feature separate rooms for men and women, and the streets are filled with pedestrians.</p>

October 10 - The National Post

<p>Swedish retailer Ikea has announced the availability of 90 pre-fabricated eco-freindly homes, complete with a plot of land in the English town of Gateshead. The house-land combos start at $200,000, and preference is given to low-income buyers.</p>

October 10 - The Guardian

<p>Left-leaning San Franciscans are just about fed up with the issue of homelessness in the city. Many are advocating for more strict law enforcement.</p>

October 10 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>In suburban Minnesota, the number of people getting up early for pre-dawn commutes to the city is on the rise, and it's changing the way businesses operate and how towns handle the demand on their roads.</p>

October 10 - Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune

<p>This article from the <em>Seattle Post-Intelligencer</em> looks at the conditions that have made Boise one of the country's most successful and thriving cities.</p>

October 10 - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

<p>Planners at the recent California APA chapter conference were asked whether they thought the state is ready for "complex urban development". As John King explains, most said "no".</p>

October 10 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>Florida seems to be losing its edge at attracting new residents. More people are moving out than in, and rising costs are taking the blame.</p>

October 10 - The Wall Street Journal

<p>Residents on the Hawaiian island of Kauai are rallying together to oppose the island's overdevelopment. Their main rallying point is the contentious inter-island "Superferry".</p>

October 10 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>A new public transit system in Santiago, Chile, is struggling to operate as planned, stretching commutes and stranding many riders after unexpected route changes. The system's inefficiency has prompted an investigation and apology from the president.</p>

October 9 - NPR

<p>New York City has been honored by the League of American Bicyclists for its citywide improvements in bike lanes, parking, and safety.</p>

October 9 - Associated Press via The Hartford Courant

<p>While Canada's enclosed shopping malls are aging, developers are finding new and profitable ways of redeveloping them.</p>

October 9 - The Globe & Mail

<p>Officials in suburban New York towns are putting more effort into luring developers to build housing near their transit stations -- a revitalization method that has shown success around the country.</p>

October 9 - The New York Times