The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Oregon was the first state to study replacing state gas taxes with a Vehicle Miles Traveled fee in 2007. Now Gov. Kulongoski is taking the next step - introducing legislation to replace the 24-cent gas tax with a VMT fee that applies GPS technology.

January 5 - Corvallis Gazette Times

Research shows that of the ten vehicles most popular with 16-35-year olds, not one comes from the Big Three U.S. manufacturers. CampusProgress.org argues that it will take more than a bailout to attract younger customers.

January 5 - Campus Progress

Plans to construct a replica of a German palace in Berlin are being met with confusion and derision. It's a project that many critics say has no point.

January 5 - International Herald Tribune

FEATURE

Solutions to our global ills can be found in your local neighborhood, says Jay Walljasper. Great examples can be found in communities from South Bend, Indiana to Mississauga, Ontario.

January 5 - Jay Walljasper

The city of Los Angeles has instituted an experimental program encouraging people to hail taxi cabs rather than call ahead, an effort the city hopes will create a "cab culture". This column is skeptical about how much impact the plan can have.

January 5 - Los Angeles Times

BLOG POST

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> In the dawn of the New Year, I cannot help but reflect on my pivotal moments in 2008, and look forward to 2009. I wrapped up – no, survived – my first semester in the Master of City Planning program at MIT. I am being a little dramatic here, but the program is really very rigorous. One thing I learned was that with such a rigorous program there is no need to make it unnecessarily more challenging. When I arrived in Cambridge, I was very excited to be in school again – I graduated from college ten years ago – and I registered for five and a half classes. Three and a half of the classes were required and two were electives. It was recommended that we take only one elective, but I was psyched and I was going to take MIT by storm!

January 4 - Tamika Camille Gauvin

A new agreement has been made that would divert more freight train traffic through Chicago area suburbs. Local communities upset about the increased traffic are expected to challenge the decision.

January 4 - Chicago Tribune

This article from <em>Next American City</em> looks at the strengths and weaknesses of the website EveryBlock.com, an automated, geography-based information aggregator.

January 4 - Next American City

In an effort to draw more tourists to their ancient temples, officials in the Chinese town of Guandu has contracted tourism-savvy Shaolin monks to take over operation of the temples.

January 4 - The New York Times

Thousands of transportation projects across the country are being temporarily halted or canceled completely due to lack of funding. More than 40 states have been forced to cut back on transportation projects.

January 4 - The New York Times

Cities that have fun things to do -- so-called "consumption amenities" -- are more successful at attracting people and growing jobs, according to a recent report.

January 4 - The Boston Globe

As a new light rail system begins operation in Phoenix, Atlanta residents look on with envy. Some worry that the lack of viable public transit in Atlanta threatens the city's competitiveness.

January 3 - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Job growth is slower in areas that don't have enough housing, according to a new study.

January 3 - The Boston Globe

This article from <em>Wired</em> looks at new plans to prevent massive flooding in the low-lying Netherlands.

January 3 - Wired

The party's over for what started out as a go-go year for architecture, writes Nicolai Ourroussoff.

January 3 - The New York Times

As President Elect Obama delivers his weekly address via YouTube, half of all Americans don't have the broadband access necessary to watch.

January 3 - Business Week

James Howard Kunstler predicts the Dow falling to 4000 by the end of the year, more dramatic swings in oil prices, and an overall contraction of services and the economy.

January 2 - Straight.com

Boise, Idaho and other cities in the region have adopted "percent for the arts" initiatives, and are looking to public art to reflect the region's 'maturity.'

January 2 - The Idaho Statesman

In 2008, RAND Corp. conducted a study on mitigating traffic congestion in Los Angeles. They studied two types of strategies: conventional, e.g. signal timing, and market-based, e.g. increased the price of driving. The results were surprising.

January 2 - Gristmill Blog

Mining towns in Lander County, NV are skipping the recession, thanks to a local economy based on gold.

January 2 - The New York Times