The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>Major initiative to upgrade a transportation system trying to keep up with China's rapid economic growth includes high-speed trains and what is reportedly the world's largest bus.</p>

May 7 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Pittsburgh was just named America's "most livable city," but don't try telling that to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Bill Steigerwald. In a column for Reason.com, Steigerwald writes, "Pittsburgh is in a death spiral.</p>

May 7 - Reason Online

<p>The "Places Rated Almanac" ranks Pittsburgh as the nation's most livable city. Rounding out the top three are San Francisco and Seattle.</p>

May 7 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

<p>Seattle-based affordable housing developers use the city's green building standards and grant programs to get many affordable housing projects started in the city and beyond.</p>

May 7 - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

<p>With world's urbanized population now at 50 percent, urban living seems set to be the global norm -- though its unclear if many cities can cope with the challenge.</p>

May 7 - The Economist

<p>Downtown redevelopment plans that will bring a hotel and retail complex and create a transit-oriented pedestrian-only plaza have been unanimously approved in Berkeley, California.</p>

May 7 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>With strong municipal involvement, the town of Roubaix has attracted textile shops and created cultural places in industrial buildings.</p>

May 7 - BBC News

<p>A recent HUD journal article assesses the origins of the smart growth movement, and its current and anticipated impact on urban development in the United States.</p>

May 7 - Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research

FEATURE

Rather than seeking to eliminate the presence of the informal sector, urban planning should seek to accommodate this important component of urban economies.

May 7 - Deden Rukmana

<p>The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) latest report focuses on relatively low cost strategies to reduce the emissions of global warming gases -- at least when compared to cost of inaction.</p>

May 7 - The New York Times

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal">Just east of downtown Brooklyn on a 22 acre site Forest City Ratner is proposing a mega-project that would transform the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) Vanderbilt rail yards and a few adjacent blocks into 6,430 units of housing, 336,000 feet of office space, 247,000 feet of retail space, a hotel and an arena that would be the new home of the NBA New Jersey Nets.<span> </span>Like almost any mega-project proposed in a dense city like New York, Atlantic Yards is raising the ire of many.<span> </span>In this case, however, the names and roles of the usual suspects have changed.<span> </span>At least some view the developer as a savior and champion of the inner city poor, while many of the project’s opponents are viewed as reactionary elites only concerned about the potential loss of their parking spaces.<span> </span>This reversal of protagonists is due in large part to the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) negotiated between the developer and several community groups.<span> </span></p>

May 7 - Lance Freeman

<p>As if Mumbai didn't have enough traffic problems, a Boeing 737 jet was left abandoned on a busy street, only to mysteriously disappear several days later.</p>

May 7 - BBC News

<p>The land use policy in the US Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement calling for smart growth caused a Bay Area mayor to refrain from signing the agreement, believing that limiting density would be better for the environment.</p>

May 6 - San Mateo County Times

<p>Rather than advocate for population growth, the gritty industrial city of Youngstown, Ohio, has launched a bold plan to -- among other strategies -- let declining neighborhoods empty out and be converted to greenspace.</p>

May 6 - The Wall Street Journal

<p>Every year, Bert Sperling and his small team of researchers get to decide which are the best places to live, work, play, and even love.</p>

May 6 - The New York Times

<p>A desert metropolis of suburbs nearing the two million residents mark, Perth is quickly draining its underground aquifers to keep its gardens green.</p>

May 6 - BBC News

<p>As the economy improves, more trucks are using the nation’s highways for long distance travel – and they need parking spots if the trip takes more than 11 hours. They often idle all night wherever they can find a spot – including the road shoulder.</p>

May 6 - The Wall Street Journal

<p>Led by bike-friendly Amsterdam and Copenhagen, European cities are ramping up efforts to shift more commuting and short car trips to pedal-power.</p>

May 5 - The Wall Street Journal

<p>This video from <em>Architectural Record</em> looks at a new trend among developers and architects to resurrect old churches and religious buildings into condominiums.</p>

May 5 - Architectural Record

<p>This piece from the <em>International Herald Tribune</em> discusses how the desire to preserve historic train stations is holding them back from being more valuable to commuters by catering to their needs and desires.</p>

May 5 - International Herald Tribune