The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>The troubling ratio of mortgage debt to housing value is going to pose a problem for millions of baby boomers, who are set to retire with almost no equity, according to Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C.</p>

June 12 - Center for Economic and Policy Research

<p>With pedestrian-friendly urban design increasingly popular, many suburban communities are building urban village-type developments usually designed around transit stations -- except they don't have transit.</p>

June 12 - USA Today

<p>The public debut of the largest historic city simulation offers an eye-opening example of urban virtualization technology.</p>

June 12 - Science Daily

<p>The only running Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system has served West Virginia University and Morgantown's downtown for 32 years. Now the university is considering proposals to expand the system to cope with increasing traffic.</p>

June 12 - The New York Times

<p>More than 500 American cities have signed on to voluntarily comply with the Kyoto Protocol, an international set of standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that the U.S. has repeatedly refused to sign.</p>

June 12 - The Washington Post

<p>Stream flows were low, particularly in the western part, even after rain at the end of the month.</p>

June 12 - SpatialNews.com

<p>In the depressed Chicago suburb of Robbins, developers have joined forces to provide 800 affordably-priced houses over the next 5 years.</p>

June 12 - The Chicago Tribune

<p>The book, "Death by Suburb: How to Keep the Suburbs from Killing Your Soul" is making the rounds among church congregations who find meaning in its message.</p>

June 12 - The Washington Post

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> Solve this riddle: New York has an unequaled reputation for diversity in the US, but at the same time ranks as “hyper-segregated” in measures of Black-white racial segregation. How do we unravel this contradiction, and what does it say about what diversity really is?</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The Columbia Encyclopedia provides the prevailing view: “New York City is also famous for its ethnic diversity, manifesting itself in scores of communities representing virtually every nation on earth, each preserving its identity.”</p>

June 12 - Greg Smithsimon

<p>Aerial trams are an effective, if idiosyncratic, mode of transportation. Reconnecting America's Jeff Wood reflects on how and when to explore this dramatic transit option.</p>

June 12 - Reconnecting America

<p>How transportation, density, discretionary income, and limited land-use regulation combine to maximize opportunity zones for upward social and economic mobility.</p>

June 12 - The Houston Chronicle

<p>Metro Atlanta ranked as the second costliest area to live in the U.S. for working families after the region's sky-high transportation costs were considered along with housing costs.</p>

June 12 - Alex Pearlstein

BLOG POST

<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial">Having sat through a Transportation Task Force committee meeting recently where a representative of local government requested funds to enable the completion of a particular road project, I had to chuckle – folks had been asking for the final funds for that road for several years and, several times, various community leaders had touted the resolution of the funding problem with “full speed ahead” declarations.<span>  </span>While not quite as embarrassing as the President Bush’s now dated declaration of “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq, it was gaining the same notoriety locally.<span>  </span>The actual construction was less than half completed and years away from being finished.<span>  </span>Several levels of government ha

June 12 - Steven Polzin

<p>While the federal government resists taking action on climate change, municipalities are implementing their own plans and guidelines to reduce energy consumption and the production of greenhouse gases.</p>

June 12 - The Washington Post

BLOG POST

<p>For the last couple of years I have been tracking decision support tools that bring audio into the planning process. At our <a href="http://www.communitymatters.org" title="CommunityMatters">PLACE<strong>MATTERS</strong>06</a> conference, Harris Miller Miller &amp; Hanson Inc. (<a href="http://www.hmmh.com" title="hmmh">HMMH</a>) demonstrated their suite of acoustical environmental tools for planning, including a simple online <a href="http://www.hmmh.com/soundscape_02sbuilder.html" title="soundbuilder">soundbuilder</a> enabling visitors to create  different mixes with several sound overlays. <br />

June 11 - Ken Snyder

BLOG POST

<p>It is now about 22 months since hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region. I was recently in New Orleans for the first time and had plenty to see. The city is still very much in a state of devastation. But there has also been a lot of progress.<br /><br />In this post, I&#39;d like to share some pictures I took when I was there and some facts and figures I&#39;ve come across that help illustrate the current situation in the city.</p>

June 11 - Nate Berg

<p>The Kyoto Protocol is a "mess" but a free market approach could help fix its weaknesses.</p>

June 11 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Using a technique typically used by advocates, California's Attorney General is trying to use lawsuits to persuade local governments to curb sprawl and prevent global warming.</p>

June 11 - USA Today

<p>Critics warn $11 billion hydroelectric dam project could cause environmental damage while supporters point to economic and infrastructure benefits.</p>

June 11 - The New York Times

<p>With significant oil reserves in its rainforests and rampant poverty, Ecuador has a dilemma. The country's president is asking the international community to compensate the country for its plans to protect the rainforest by not drilling for the oil.</p>

June 11 - The Christian Science Monitor