The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>Offshore drilling company StatoilHydro is finding a new way to get energy at sea- with large-scale wind turbines.</p>

May 29 - Energy Business Review

<p>A recent report by a Federal Reserve Bank senior economist argues that Houston's resiliency during the ongoing housing crisis is due in part to its lack of zoning regulations.</p>

May 29 - The Houston Chronicle

<p>Requiring all cities and towns to building affordable housing is bad policy. The focus should be on building housing in existing urban areas near jobs and transit, not in rural and suburban towns.</p>

May 29 - The New York Times

<p>BART, the region's rail transit agency, is negotiating with a private company to install a wireless network that would allow riders to check email and access the Internet.</p>

May 28 - PC World

BLOG POST

<p> Today, I turned in my grades for my seminar on &quot;Sprawl and the Law.&quot; It occurred to me that some readers of this blog might be academics, and might be interested on how one can teach a course on sprawl. </p> <p> I began by defining the issue. As I pointed out in an earlier post (at <a href="/node/31063)"><u><span style="color: #0000ff">http://www.planetizen.com/node/31063)</span></u></a> the term &quot;sprawl&quot; has two common meanings: where we grow (city or suburb) and how we grow (pedestrian-friendly or automobile-dependent). Policies that affect the first type of &quot;sprawl&quot; need not affect the second (and vice versa). </p>

May 28 - Michael Lewyn

<p>The City of Saco, Maine is turning land the federal government once labeled a toxic Superfund site into a hub for hiking, fishing, and recreation.</p>

May 28 - Portland Press Herald

<p>Developer Casey Roloff has built an ambitious new community on the Washington coast with New Urbanist ideas and a Northwest flavor.</p>

May 28 - The News Tribune

BLOG POST

<span style="font-size: x-small"> <p> In his annual tour-de-force presentation on the state of Vancouver&#39;s housing market recently, marketing guru Bob Rennie (referred to often as Canada&#39;s &quot;condo king&quot;, and thus often accused of having a vested interest in a continued strong market for condos here in Vancouver) had some new, controversial points that are still being debated locally. Perhaps the most provocative was his call to action for the development industry to get back into building housing that is more affordable to ordinary Vancouverites (as opposed to being geared to the international market - his comment was that we know how to serve that world market, now we need to show that we can serve the local market better, or words to that effect). Given that he included details like &quot;capping developer profit at 10%&quot;, I found his comments pretty brave in front of an audience of 700+ developers and clients. </p>

May 28 - Brent Toderian

<p>Thick congestion has politicians in Budapest looking at ways to improve mobility -- mainly by encouraging bicycle use.</p>

May 28 - AFP

A remnant of Robert Moses' famous push to raze neighborhoods and build highways in their place, the Sheridan Expressway is ripe for revitalization. A local advocate believes that now "the stars are aligned" for it to happen.

May 28 - The Gotham Gazette

<p>The Bush Administration is reportedly considering the creation of some of the world's large marine reserves by using the presidential powers granted by the Antiquities Act of 1906.</p>

May 28 - NPR

<p>Representatives in North Providence, RI are attempting to save a site used for a camp for inner-city youth from developers, and may resort to using eminent domain to do so.</p>

May 28 - www.redorbit.com

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> As the northern summer starts, one of the questions I am asked most frequently by current and prospective planning students is: what should I read? A number of resources are available to answer this question. This month I look at general planning readings for a North American audience but in coming months I’ll explore readings about global planning issues, planning methods, and planning classics. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> For those wanting an overview of planning issues, the following lists are good places to start: </p>

May 28 - Ann Forsyth

<p>Columnist E. Thomas McClanahan reviews a new public space in Kansas City, and finds a lot to like in the urban design.</p>

May 28 - The Kansas City Star

<p>Plans to build a massive dam in Turkey have many hopeful that its creation will revive the local economy.</p>

May 28 - The Christian Science Monitor

<p>New York City is trying to make life for bike commuters a little less treacherous by building dedicated bike lanes throughout the city.</p>

May 28 - The Washington Post

<p>The Movement for Israeli Urbanism makes the case that Israel's current planning policies are not sustainable.</p>

May 27 - The Jerusalem Post

<p>In a policy analysis for the Cato Institute, Randal O'Toole reviews plans for more than 75 of the nation's largest metropolitan areas reveals that virtually all of them fail to follow standard planning methods, and half of them are not effective.</p>

May 27 - Cato Institute

<p>The installation of a green roof and solar array on the rooftop of the new WGBH building in Boston is captured on video.</p>

May 27 - The Boston Globe

<p>Mayor Mark Funkhouser's new proposal calls for a regional transit system spanning 119 miles, though it relies on much less light rail than some transit advocates had hoped for.</p>

May 27 - The Kansas City Star