The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The state of California has adopted the nation's first green building codes, including a provision that allows local jurisdictions to keep or approve even stricter environmental building rules.

January 13 - San Francisco Chronicle

McMansions are often thought to be a U.S.-only problem, but Australians have the largest homes in the world, with houses in the state of New South Wales averaging 262.9 square meters (around 2800 sq. ft.).

January 13 - The Courier Mail

As incredible as it sounds, it's true. CA Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's scheme is to convert the sales tax on gas to an excise tax partly to circumvent a June court ruling that he had illegally diverted public transit funds to balance the state budget

January 13 - The Sacramento Bee

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">I’m going to riff off a recent Interchange Blog post by Michael Lewyn on the </span><a href="/node/42323"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; color: #800080; font-size: small">relationship between mobility and accessibility</span></a><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">. Given the positive comments from the planning community to Michael’s post, a little engagement may be necessary for both clarity as well as fully understanding the implications of reading too much into the accessibility versus mobility debate. </span> </p>

January 13 - Samuel Staley

<em>Travel + Leisure</em> has released its list of America's "fittest" cities.

January 13 - Travel + Leisure

Anthony Flint, recent author of a book about Jane Jacobs, talks to ASLA's The Dirt blog about her influence on urban design and landscape architecture.

January 13 - ASLA's The Dirt blog

A new study from the Boston Consulting Group concludes that gasoline powered-vehicles will predominate till at least 2020; doubtful of their ability to attract customers, contradicting brighter industry forecasts predominantly due to battery costs.

January 13 - The New York Times - Energy & Environment

A $5.35 billion plan to build a light rail system in Honolulu, Hawaii, is on rocky ground as the state's governor has joined the opposition movement.

January 13 - the transport politic

UC Berkeley urban design students have proposed new, far-fetched proposals for reusing the soon-to-be-obsolete span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. With space at a premium in the Bay Area, would a hotel, park or neighborhood actually work?

January 13 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Planners in Los Angeles are considering a plan to remove two lanes of a strip of downtown street to create parkspace for the formerly light-industrial area's growing populations.

January 13 - Los Angeles Times

Blogger and landscape architect Lisa Town gathers a few D.I.Y. tables and chairs designed for creating instant public seating space for street food, including a hydrant tabletop.

January 13 - Inspiration Wall

A patent filed by Google in 2008 illustrates a process where ads could be placed on buildings, marquees and billboards in Google Street View.

January 12 - ReadWriteWeb

NPR interviews the AP reporter who conducted an analysis of stimulus spending in one particular area - road construction. His finding was that in addition to having no effect on total unemployment, it didn't improve construction employment either.

January 12 - NPR: All Things Considered

Dongtan Eco City was planned for completion for the Shanghai World Expo in 2010. By that time, 5,000 people should be living there. However, the planned housing, water taxis, sewage‐recycling plant and energy park all failed to materialize.

January 12 - The Urban Reinventors Online Urban Journal

New video game-like programs are enabling the U.S. military to train for deployment in the middle east. One program is modeled off the urban planning computer game SimCity.

January 12 - The Atlantic

The cruise ship Utopia will be a $1.1 billion dollar party boat that includes 200 homes for sale for $3.7 million and up. That is, if they can get enough buyers in a tough market.

January 12 - Los Angeles Times

The latest Census data indicates that Americans are moving less than they used to. <em>The New York Times</em> asks a group of experts in demographics, sociology and urban issues why.

January 12 - The New York Times

Negotiations between the states of Georgia, Alabama and Florida can remain secret, according to a recent federal ruling.

January 12 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A passenger train line across the Balkans had been closed for 18 years. As it reopens and reconnects the region to the rest of Europe, there are signs of improved relations in the war-torn region.

January 12 - The New York Times

A neighborhood development group in Seattle is working with convenience store owners to add healthier food choices to their inventories.

January 12 - KUOW