The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>Housing is a hot commodity in New Orleans, but many homes still sit vacant. Getting people into these vacant homes is proving to be a major challenge for the city.</p>

January 28 - The New York Times

<p>Despite County and municipal comprehensive plans that advocate for higher density new development in targeted growth areas, neighbors have strongly opposed the creation of a zoning amendment that would allow a development of 3,000 homes on 300 acres.</p>

January 28 - Lancaster (PA) Sunday News

BLOG POST

As technology becomes more an integral part of planning and public outreach around planning, the need for a “creative touch” becomes increasingly important. While technology can increase the quality and quantity of public input, it can also diminish the quality of human interaction and creativeness. As we look for technologies that engage citizens, we also need to find ways to utilize art materials, maps and other visuals, and encourage storytelling.<br />

January 27 - Ken Snyder

<p>Momentum is growing for 24 hour transit in Edmonton, Alberta - an idea backed by students, business officials, and the Transit Riders' Union of Edmonton. City officials say it's inevitable, but is at least a couple years away.</p>

January 27 - The Edmonton Sun

<p>In this piece from <em>Reason</em> Samuel Staley argues that the housing crisis can't be fully blamed for the economic recession.</p>

January 27 - Reason

<p>Officials in Edmonton are considering a ban on any new drive through windows at fast food restaurants in an effort to curb emissions from idling cars.</p>

January 27 - The Edmonton Sun

<p>Quite a few Ohio suburbs are planning to resurrect their old downtowns -- or build new ones from scratch -- to create human-scaled urban focal points.</p>

January 27 - The Columbus Dispatch

<p>Despite making energy poverty a major domestic policy focus, the British government is being accused of underfunding its program, just as the number of homes living in energy poverty is at its highest level in almost a decade.</p>

January 27 - The Guardian (UK)

<p>Young people in New Zealand aren't taking up careers in planning, which is causing problems for many cities, and has developers upset about slow processing times.</p>

January 26 - Scoop Independent News

<p>This report from the Suzuki Foundation examines climate change impacts on equity of land values in British Columbia.</p>

January 26 - Real Estate Institute of British Columbia

<p>This article looks at the success of downtown parks in cities big and small and argues that Eugene, Oregon, needs to start thinking about parks and stop looking at parking lots to drive the local economy.</p>

January 26 - Eugene Weekly

<p>A planned rail extension that would have connected the Washington D.C. area to Dulles International Airport has been all but killed by a federally-pushed disqualification of the project from receiving critical federal funding.</p>

January 26 - The Washington Post

<p><em>Treehugger</em> interviews New Urbanist Andy Kunz about the state of the nation's train system and plans for a high-speed rail network.</p>

January 26 - Treehugger.com

<p>A woman in Russia returned home form vacation recently to an empty plot of land. Her home was mistakenly demolished as developers readied a site for new construction.</p>

January 25 - Associated Press

<p>An investor from Dubai is looking to replicate -- in close detail -- the French city of Lyon in the Arab Emirate.</p>

January 25 - International Herald Tribune

<p>New York City parks officials have announced plans to generate extra revenue by selling off naming rights for some of the city's public park attractions.</p>

January 25 - New York Post

<p>A Washington D.C. developer is seeking feedback about possible redevelopment options through the social netowrking website facebook.com.</p>

January 25 - Washington (D.C.) Business Journal

<p>A San Francisco supervisor has proposed several changes in parking regulations that will result in reduced new housing costs, and potentially reduced car ownership and operation. It requires the approval of the Board of Supervisors.</p>

January 25 - San Francisco Examiner

<p>A recent report from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities is calling on the federal government to keep up tis funding of housing and shelter programs after they expire in 2009.</p>

January 25 - The Vancouver Sun

<p>The European Union has announced plans to make a significant cutback in its carbon emissions. Some say the plans are too ambitious and will hurt the Union's growth and competitiveness, but others argue they don't go far enough.</p>

January 25 - The Christian Science Monitor