The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

In order to reduce his carbon footprint, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates is providing an excellent example for all municipal leaders by giving up his car.

April 23 - San Francisco Chronicle

As a developer turned bicycle activist, Brad Knoefler is trying to bring an urban greenway to one of Miami's most blighted neighborhoods. However, a myriad of red tape remains to be cut.

April 23 - Miami Herald

Witold Rybczynski takes a look at the new tendency toward buildings that look collapsible, rather than the solid-looking buildings of the past. Is this trend a symptom of our shaky times?

April 23 - Slate

The ARRA has committed $8 billion to high speed rail. President Obama promised an addition $1 billion per year in future budgets. But how will the money be allocated? How will projects be selected? Details can be found in a new plan from the FRA.

April 23 - Federal Railroad Administration

BLOG POST

<p> Which of these families most needs to plan its family commitments and related budget items? </p> <p> Family 1:  Wife is a bankruptcy lawyer whose business is booming; husband is an executive at a growing wind-energy company and has just received a nice raise, paid out of growing profits.  The kids are grown.  The couple&#39;s two Polish Lowland Sheepdogs are very healthy. </p> <p> Family 2:  Wife is a plant manager for a U.S.-owned automobile company, facing mandatory unpaid time off this year; husband is a travel agent who sells high-end vacation packages to school teachers, planners and other middle-income individuals and families.  Son has graduated from college but cannot find a job and is living at home and working part-time at a burger place.  Daughter will be a college junior next year at an institution that has had its funding cut by the state and has thus announced a 15 percent tuition increase. </p>

April 23 - Eric Damian Kelly

Scientists are taking seriously proposals to artificially and massively change the Earth's ecosystems -- to "geoengineer" the planet -- to put the brakes on climate change.

April 23 - Macleans

With high-profile private-sector clients scaling back prestige projects in the face of the economic downturn, architectural firms are looking instead to institutional clients and retrofitting existing buildings.

April 23 - The Globe and Mail

Last week, with a $4.5 million budget deficit and no development activity, the Petaluma City Council took the drastic step of eliminating its entire planning department.

April 22 - California Planning & Development Report

The Hope for Homeowners Act was designed to allow foreclosed homeowners to keep their homes by drawing up new and more affordable mortgages for qualified applicants. Barney Frank is one of many proclaiming it a failure.

April 22 - NPR

<em>GOOD</em> provides a glimpse of TransMilenio, a Colombian bus rapid transit system and shining example of BRT done right.

April 22 - GOOD Magazine

America's infrastructure isn't as fragile as current media coverage has made it out to be, according to Jack Shafer.

April 22 - Slate

Farm workers are getting laid off and other consumers face strict water use limits. The current drought, exacerbated by environmental restrictions on pumping from the San Joaquin Delta, has made Californians competitive for the resource.

April 22 - The Christian Science Monitor

After years of being unfairly associated with conservatism, auto-dependence should be an issue of concern for all Americans--largely because of what it means to the fabric of their communities.

April 22 - The Witherspoon Institute

This slideshow from <em>New York</em> looks at a handful of residential and office buildings in New York City that have either stalled or completely halted development.

April 22 - New York

Encouraging the creative class to rent and eventually own in foreclosed neighborhoods revives blighted neighborhoods, but the strategy isn't without controversy or setbacks.

April 22 - The Wall Street Journal

A brick structure was uncovered outside the city of Wari-Bateshwar, confirming that the site was part of a developed city as early as 400 B.C.

April 22 - The Daily Star

The Virginia Department of Transportation is painting zig-zag lines in the middle of traffic lanes in an effort to get motorists to slow down as they near a bike trail and pedestrian path.

April 22 - WTOP

BLOG POST

<span style="font-size: x-small">&quot;If we can develop and design streets so that they are wonderful, fulfilling places to be </span><span style="font-size: x-small; font-family: Tahoma"><span style="font-size: x-small; font-family: Tahoma">—</span></span><span style="font-size: x-small"> community-building places, attractive for all people </span><span style="font-size: x-small; font-family: Tahoma"><span style="font-size: x-small; font-family: Tahoma">—</span></span><span style="font-size: x-small"> then we will have successfully designed about one-third of the city.&quot;         A</span><span style="font-size: x-small">llan Jacobs </span><span style="font-size: x-small"> <p> A few weeks ago, I was asked to speak at an event celebrating what might possibly come to be recognized as one of Vancouver&#39;s important civic feats - the redesign and reconstruction of downtown Vancouver&#39;s Granville Street. </p>

April 21 - Brent Toderian

Old wooden pipes and failing water mains highlight the infrastructural water challenges facing many communities.

April 21 - The New York Times

An outright, carefully worded ban on new signage is the key to ending Los Angeles' billboard drama, according to this op-ed.

April 21 - Los Angeles Times