The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Housing vacancies are still rising in many American metropolitan areas.

August 4 - Forbes

Peak oil will happen at least 10 years earlier than most governments are expecting, and an oil crunch will occur in the next 5 years, says Dr Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency.

August 4 - The Independent (UK)

Downtowns used to serve primarily as the economic and job hub of a community, but are shifting to be more focused on providing a entertainment center and civic forum.

August 4 - New Geography

Where are all the trains? Chicago suburbs worried about an expected increase in freight trains due to the CN purchase of a rail spur through their backyard, but that worry has not materialized after the acquisition.

August 4 - Chicago Sun-Times

Howard Husock reads two new books on Jane Jacobs, which he says reveal the unexplored significance of Jacob's activist side, opening the doors to protesting the entire activity of city planning.

August 3 - City Journal

In Copenhagen, architect David Zahle faced with a problem site. They needed to build 215,000 sq. ft. of parking and 108,000 sq. ft. of housing on one lot. The solution was a sort of artificial mountain.

August 3 - Dwell

In this editorial, the New York Times urges the Senate not to reduce the House's high speed rail budget allocation of $4 billion to $1.4 billion. Though President Obama is a prominent supporter of HSR, he supports delaying the transportation bill.

August 3 - The New York Times - Opinion

As people move to cities and the outer suburbs begin to become more desolate, what will become of them? WorldChanging envisions the suburbs as the next frontier.

August 3 - WorldChanging

Urban sounds can have an effect on people -- both physically and mentally. This sonic tour through New York City examines how sounds affect urbanites.

August 3 - Discover

Disasters happen. Being prepared is almost always the ideal, but rarely the reality. A disaster training facility in Texas is trying to change that.

August 3 - Popular Science

BLOG POST

<p> Summer seems to be the season to demolish old schools. There’s nothing that makes people madder than when a neighborhood school is reduced to rubble. One Portland blogger <a href="http://chatterbox.typepad.com/portlandarchitecture/2009/07/an-architectural-tragedy-riverdale-has-been-destroyed.html" target="_blank">compared the wreckage of a 1920s school to Dresden</a>. People in Beaumont, Texas, took the local school district to court to save their 87-year-old high school, and those “Greenies” are fired up on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=92556003497&amp;ref=search" target="_blank">Facebook</a>.

August 3 - Margaret Foster

With a 32-story tower occupied only part-time by a single family, America's real estate bust may be most apparent in Fort Meyers.

August 3 - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Crime numbers and struggling city budgets have caused the Justice department to issue $1 billion in federal stimulus funds to 1,046 communities to beef up their police forces.

August 3 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Through the use of infrared aerial photography, the lost ancient Roman city of Altinum has been found.

August 3 - Der Spiegel

FEATURE

Builder Fernando Pagés Ruiz discovered by accident that the multicultural groups in his community had special needs that weren't being met.

August 3 - Fernando Pagés Ruiz

Funding from the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program is finding a lot of use in foreclosure-swamped California's San Bernardino County. But one city is deep in debate over how those funds should be used, and which areas should be saved.

August 3 - The Contra Costa Times

BLOG POST

<p> After more than four years of public meetings, new drafts, extensive revisions, debate, and controversy, <a href="http://www.miami21.org/">Miami 21</a> is finally scheduled for its first City Commission reading on August 6th. For all who have, or continue to work patiently and dilligently on the groundbreaking zoning code, this is exciting and relieving news.   </p>

August 2 - Mike Lydon

A new high-tech system from New Zealand will be installed on L.A.'s 110 freeway, which will feature sensors that will know when traffic slows and open an alternate lane automatically.

August 2 - Los Angeles Times

This slideshow form <em>Mother Nature Network</em> shows seven globa cities that are completely free of cars.

August 2 - Mother Nature Network

As the regionality of urban planning issues becomes more clear, metropolitan planning organizations are uniquely suited to shape the policy response. But, according to this piece from <em>Citiwire</em>, they lack the power to do it.

August 2 - Citiwire