The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>Automobile crashes are the number one killer of teenagers in the United States, with nearly 6,000 deaths a year for the past decade, and more than 300,000 injuries annually.</p>

December 13 - Streetsblog

<p>A new report ranking Canada's cities in terms of their ability to attract skilled workers finds that looming demographic challenges and infrastructure deficits will require urgent attention from higher levels of government.</p>

December 13 - The Globe & Mail

<p>The governor of Washington is leaning towards surface street options and public transit as possible solutions to the traffic problem posed by Seattle's crumbling inner city freeway, the Alaskan Way Viaduct.</p>

December 13 - The Seattle Times

<p>Officials in Spain have announced billion-dollars plans to help homeowners retrofit and renovate houses to be more energy efficient.</p>

December 13 - Reuters

<p>Some cemeteries are being planned and designed for uses beyond the funeral. But more should be done to improve the banal architecture of the cemetery, according to this article from <em>The Guardian</em>.</p>

December 13 - The Guardian

<p>Toronto's poet laureate argues that environmental sustainability cannot be achieved until people become better neighbors and create better communities.</p>

December 13 - Spacing

<p>The regional association of governments in Washington D.C. is calling on its member cities to put more emphasis on encouraging environmentally friendly development.</p>

December 13 - The Washington Post

<p>According to Mayor C. Ray Nagin, Louisiana's recovery has reached the tipping point, setting 2008 up as the year New Orleans will truly come back.</p>

December 13 - WWL AM 870

<p>As racial tensions erupt across France, the diverse city of Marseille has remained calm. Many look to it as a model for the future of an increasingly ethnically-mixed France and Europe.</p>

December 12 - Smithsonian Magazine

<p>Jerry Abramson, mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, has announced plans to invest $100,000 in creating a pedestrian plan for his city.</p>

December 12 - Louisville Courier-Journal

<p>High foreclosure rates are turning Charlotte's new starter home suburbs into bastions of crime and decay.</p>

December 12 - The Charlotte Observer

<p>As the city traffic grinds to a crawl due to the rising amount of vehicles on the road, techies in Bangalore have taken a liking to commuting on bicycles.</p>

December 12 - BBC

<p>This piece from the <em>Los Angeles Times</em> takes a look at two big ideas for fixing L.A.'s congestion: subway and monorail.</p>

December 12 - The Los Angeles Times

<p><em>California Planning and Development Report</em>'s Paul Shigley reviews the recent report on walkability released by the Brookings Institution and finds some of its claims dubious.</p>

December 12 - California Planning & Development Report

<p>The City of Houston has come to an agreement with Clear Channel Advertising for the company to remove about 800 billboards from the city -- the result of a citywide plan to clean up the city's "visual clutter" that started more than 20 years ago.</p>

December 12 - The Houston Chronicle

<p>This article from <em>Reason</em> looks at a regulatory system in Alexandria, Virginia, that seeks to maintain the city's historic Old Town neighborhood. But is the regulation burdening local businesses owners to the point of hurting the economy?</p>

December 12 - Reason

<p>With increasing train ridership and more people shying away from the gas pump, Neal Peirce asks whether now might be Amtrak's time to shine.</p>

December 12 - The Washington Post

<p>In Toronto, planners have unveiled a street design that separates a planned streetcar line from auto traffic, bike lanes, and parking. Many are calling it a first for the city -- making the street decidedly transit- and pedestrian-friendly.</p>

December 12 - The Toronto Star

<p>This blog post from <em>Wired</em> takes a look at the expanding subway system of Beijing, China -- a system that is expected to become the world's second largest by 2015.</p>

December 11 - Wired

<p>Thanks to a series of "lousy" public policy decisions, Ottawa - Canada's national capital - is growing increasingly dysfunctional, writes Jeffrey Simpson.</p>

December 11 - The Globe & Mail