The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>Mixed use developments are reeling in residents, but struggle to attract retailers.</p>

November 22 - The New York Times

<p>A vortex of winds has concentrated garbage and plastic flotsam into a huge island of garbage in the middle of the Pacific Ocean -- an unintentionally man-made mass that is growing at a rapid pace.</p>

November 22 - The Tyee

<p>In 2008, Maryland voters will consider a plan to allow slot gambling machines in the state. But local zoning regulations could trump the state law, giving communities control over whether the machines are allowed or not.</p>

November 22 - The Baltimore Sun

<p>The dedication of a piece of public art in San Francisco inspires this reflection on the not-so-welcoming arms of the city's progressive population to public art projects in the past.</p>

November 22 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>Vancouver has been named one of the world's "smartest" cities in a recent list, which also includes cities from Australia, Ohio, Scotland, and India.</p>

November 21 - The Vancouver Sun

<p>The last privately held island in the East River has been transferred to the City of New York using a combination of public and private funds.</p>

November 21 - The New York Times

<p>A mixed-income housing project is one of a handful of housing complexes taking form in New Orleans, where housing availability has been slow to recover to pre-Katrina levels.</p>

November 21 - The New York Times

<p>Western planners and architects have drafted a broad master plan for Kigali, the capital of Rwanda -- one of the least developed nations in the world.</p>

November 21 - Metropolis Magazine

<p>More than controlled burns or flying water tankers, zoning could be the firefighters most powerful tool.</p>

November 21 - The Huffington Post

<p>Developers seek to use the environmental friendliness of their projects to lure second home buyers who may be struggling with the guilt of buying another home and increasing their environmental footprint.</p>

November 21 - The Wall Street Journal

<p>High returns on investments for housing developments in struggling and stagnant Australian city suburbs are helping to convince both developers and public officials to continue the outer-urban renewal efforts.</p>

November 21 - The Australian

<p>The UN agency assigned to climate change known as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that shared a Nobel Prize with former VP Al Gore has issued its final report - and the news is worse than initially thought. Will the world react in time?</p>

November 21 - The New York Times

<p>People who drive in L.A. have a lot of time to think about the urban form while they sit in traffic. Specifically, they wonder why everything in Southern California requires a trip in the car.</p>

November 21 - California Planning & Development Report

<p>The burgeoning increase in foreclosures is leaving some suburban California neighborhoods with multiple abandoned and unguarded homes, which become tempting targets for looters, vandals and thieves.</p>

November 21 - Modesto Bee

<p>Seeking a way to fund the state's many transit and transportation projects, officials in Washington are considering a plan that would put a highway tolling bill in front of the state legislature early next year -- a bill many believe would pass.</p>

November 20 - Crosscut

<p>A new report warns that Canada's municipal infrastructure, much of it many decades old, is in urgent need of investment and upgrading.</p>

November 20 - The Globe & Mail

<p>City life edges back towards normalisty in Baghdad where residents are noticing improvements in security and lower rates of violence. More people are traveling across the city and staying out at night, and even the liquor stores are opening back up.</p>

November 20 - The New York Times

<p>Retirees are less inclined to move out of their homes as they ages, so a cooperative group in Connecticut is creating a network amongst retirees and service providers to enable people to stay put.</p>

November 20 - The New York Times

<p>The first (of four) phases of the infamous Second Ave. subway is ready to begin construction thanks to the approval of $1.3 billion in federal financing, enabling the long-delayed line to be built from 92nd to 63rd streets in Manhattan.</p>

November 20 - The New York Times

<p>Development is booming in Dubai -- so much so that its pace is causing concerns about carbon emissions. In response, numerous green efforts have been launched to bring sustainability into the planning and design process.</p>

November 20 - Arabian Business