The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

A variety of road and streetscape improvement projects in San Francisco are reviving the city's streets. But now, the city has to ask itself whether it wants to keep paying for these improvements.

May 16 - San Francisco Bay Guardian

A new report predicts that more than 50% of China's population will live in cities by 2020.

May 16 - People's Daily Online

If cities want to curb energy use, they should focus on private buildings, according to this article.

May 15 - Sustainable Life

This commentary from <em>Urban Omnibus</em> looks at how the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a problem with roots in unsustainable land use.

May 15 - Urban Omnibus

A new nonfiction book called "The Fires" reveals how The RAND Corporation suggested money-saving cuts for New York City that resulted in a season of deadly fires in the city's poorest neighborhoods.

May 15 - BLDBLOG

264 luxury residential developments are vacant in New York City, according to a new report. Could they be a temporary solution to a serious homeless problem?

May 15 - City Limits

In the aftermath of an enormous sinkhole that swallowed a Quebec home, killing a family of four, officials are trying to determine how vulnerable communities in the region are to unstable leda clay.

May 15 - The Globe and Mail

This article from <em>The Onion</em> looks at the Environmental Protection Agency's increasing frustration with a global environment that is not playing its part in environmental protection.

May 14 - The Onion

Christopher B. Leinberger proposes that privatized rail could stimulate the economy and help increase property values.

May 14 - The Atlantic Monthly

A Swedish startup is developing a kite-like turbine to capture the power of ocean waves to generate electricity.

May 14 - GOOD Magazine

The City of Raleigh, NC is proposing to fix a messy knot of three rail lines with a new transit center that will connect the rail with local bus transit and other modes.

May 14 - News & Observer

After a lawsuit in New York State, HUD has taken up the stick and is threatening to terminate funding to housing programs if civil rights fair housing regulations are not met.

May 14 - Planning Commissioners Journal

The American Power Act sets limits on greenhouse gas emissions, creates a cap, trade, and dividend program that rebates funds to energy bill payers, directs $6 billion yearly to targeted transportation programs, and curtails EPA's climate authority.

May 14 - Kansas City Star

Jackson, New York and several other small upstate towns have entered the immigration wars by passing a law requiring all official town business to be conducted in English.

May 14 - New York Times

The National Main Street Conference was in Oklahoma City last week. Bob Phipps, a retail consultant, talks about what he got out of the event.

May 14 - The Oklahoman

Mike Whitney at Alternet warns that, between a poorly-understood "frankensystem" of federal housing relief combined with an estimated 9-year "shadow inventory" of distressed homes, homeowners are facing a "lost decade."

May 14 - AlterNet

Former San Jose Mayor Tom McEnery is heading up an ambitious project to transform a mediocre public space into a Granville Market for Silicon Valley.

May 14 - Metroactive

HOAs are mandated to protect the aesthetics of their community. That goal is clashing with many who want to install solar panels on their roofs. States are fighting back with laws prohibiting HOAs from banning panels.

May 13 - USA Today

A Methodist reverend has a vision of a portable living space for aging seniors that could be set up in a family's backyard. Local officials worry about them becoming permanent if zoning changes.

May 13 - The Washington Post

Student Dallas Hanks saw unused land on the sides of highways being landscaped and thought the land could be used more effectively. His ideas have resulted in a project to grow crops for biodiesel on these embankments.

May 13 - USA Today