The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

BLOG POST

Typically I have fallen into the “every day is earth day” camp. But this year, April 22nd offered a moment for reflection, although of a more professional than personal nature.<br /><br />Green is everywhere these days – from Vanity Fair to the Wall Street Journal. The decades long debate about the validity of climate change appears to be over – as the discussion seems to be quickly shifting to either: a) how do we make it less dramatic, or b) how we prepare for the inevitable.<br />

April 23 - Walker Wells

<p>National award winning "green development" is getting attention in Salem, Oregon.</p>

April 23 - Salem Oregon Statesman Journal

<p>The expanding light rail system in metropolitan Salt Lake City, Utah, is giving many developers opportunities to build transit-oriented housing and retail projects, especially in the suburbs.</p>

April 23 - The New York Times

<p>Designers and community development corporations collaborate on concepts for infill development along Philadelphia's commercial corridors.</p>

April 23 - The Philadelphia Daily News

BLOG POST

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Last week, my home city, Los Angeles, lost out to Chicago for the right to represent the United States in the international competition to host the 2016 Olympics.<span>  </span>Since an Olympic city selection represents the ultimate inter-urban beauty contest – dare I say, a kind of urban “International Idol” – what did this process tell us about the state of urban planning in two of America’s largest cities?</font><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font> </p>

April 23 - Ken Bernstein

<p>The tide in mall development is changing to incorporate elements of nostalgia for 'Americana' and a hometown feel, complete with story lines, but concerns over traffic congestion and over-development persist.</p>

April 23 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Conservative lawmakers are using climate change as a political issue. Environmentalists are not happy.</p>

April 23 - The Sacramento Bee

<p>Russia's super-rich live in a secret suburb hidden in a forest outside Moscow.</p>

April 23 - BBC

<p>Congressional investigators calculate the insurance risk of crop damage and flooding due to climate change.</p>

April 23 - MSNBC

BLOG POST

<span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial"><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial">In 1996, my professor at the University of Colorado introduced a new concept – Transit Oriented Development (TOD).<span> </span>An emerging group of professionals that included New Urbanists were advocating the idea, but few on-the-ground examples existed.<span> </span>The debate within the planning field during those years focused on the marketability of a mixed-use product.<span> </span>TODs would have to overcome large obstacles.<span> </span>Banks were hesitant to finance an “unproven” product.<span> </span>Developers wondered if they could pass on higher construction costs to buyers, retailers questioned if there would be enough customers to fill their stores, and planners questioned if TODs would lead to changes in travel behavior.<span> </span>A decade later, many continue to ask the same questions about TOD although the difference today is that there are many successful examples to showcase and study.<span> </span>TOD is gaining popularity and widespread appeal but an important unanswered question remains – will TOD remain a niche product or will it become a mainstream development concept? </span></p>

April 23 - John Renne

BLOG POST

<p>On the Sunday that the April Nor’easter dumped the second highest rainfall ever recorded in Central Park, I waded to the New York Auto Show at the Jacob Javits Center. I wasn’t there to see the mighty floor show of preening cars inside the convention center, I went to see the Taxi ’07 exhibition outside on the wind and rain swept lower roadway. For anyone who has tried to hail a taxi in a Manhattan rainstorm, visiting the exhibition on that Sunday raised a familiar feeling: nearly a dozen yellow taxis in sight, not one of which was going to pick me up and whisk me away to dry land.<br />

April 23 - Barbara Knecht

FEATURE

In honor of Landscape Architecture Month, Planetizen profiles four students who are studying this influential discipline.

April 23 - Nate Berg

<p>Seattle residents are protesting a 600,000 square foot retail development set to move into the city's historic Little Saigon neighborhood. They fear that the character of the neighborhood will be erased by the major chain retailers on tap to move in.</p>

April 23 - The Seattle Times

<p>New rules have come into effect in Massachusetts that will require developers of large-scale projects to estimate and reduce their greenhouse gas production.</p>

April 23 - The Boston Globe

<p>In the first suit of its kind in the state, if not the country, a Southern California county was sued by environmental groups because their general plan doesn't consider the effects of global warming. The state attorney general has joined the suit.</p>

April 23 - The San Bernardino Sun

<p>In a September 2006 referendum, Stockholm voters supported a trial period of congestion pricing between January and July 2006. Consequently, the traffic-reducing scheme that charges drivers for entering the city will return in August 2007.</p>

April 22 - AP via International Herald Tribune

<p>Amid recent talk amongst Canadian officials about the future of Canada's capital city, Ottawa, some say the government city is too square to become an international destination. But others see a way for Ottawa to "swagger".</p>

April 22 - The Ottawa Citizen

<p>Hal Clifford believes that climate change makes other environmental causes insignificant.</p>

April 22 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>An atmospheric scientist is telling local officials in Portland, Oregon, that the concentration of new housing in existing high density areas may be a bad practice, as these areas tend to be located near freeways, and therefore high pollution.</p>

April 22 - The Portland Tribune

<p>A town in England has completely cut itself off from the national power grid, providing all its own energy with mini power stations and renewable energy. Some doubt the system's practicality, but others say it is the new standard for cities.</p>

April 22 - International Herald Tribune