The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>Residents in small-town, suburban Boston are on edge about the impending demolition of historic housing to make room for what they fear will be a national chain retailer -- a first for the town.</p>

August 13 - The Boston Globe

<p>Preparations are underway to take Oregon's land use legislation Measure 37 back to the ballot this November, but the property rights case that became the face issue still remains unsettled.</p>

August 12 - The Portland Tribune

<p>The Central California town of Arvin exceeds federal ozone standards more often than any other city in the nation, according to EPA figures. But for Arvin residents, the smog has only local effects, not local sources.</p>

August 12 - Associated Press via The York Dispatch

<p>Architects and housing experts look to the future of housing and predict increases in the amount of gadgets and furnishings rather than square footage.</p>

August 12 - The Washington Post

<p>Housing advocates in Sacramento are up in arms over proposed changes to the city's housing policy that would shift responsibility for building affordable units from the developer to the city -- changes they say will limit the policy's effectiveness.</p>

August 12 - The Sacramento Bee

<p>The chair of the House Transportation Committee had barely released his call for an increase in the federal gas tax to fund bridge repair when President Bush stated he would oppose it, claiming not more money but better priorities is the answer.</p>

August 12 - AP via New York Times

<p>At the edge of Portland's urban growth boundary, a clash of rural and urban lifestyles is causing disputes between homeowners, farmers, and hunters.</p>

August 11 - The Oregonian

<p>Officials and developers in St. Louis continue their quest to draw a Major League Soccer team to the city with recently revealed plans for a major stadium-housing-retail-office complex.</p>

August 11 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

<p>Joining the ranks of Sacramento, San Francisco, and San Diego, the city of Los Angeles has approved a ban on smoking in public parks.</p>

August 11 - The Sacramento Bee

<p>Car-oriented sloping sidewalks are upsetting pedestrians in Toronto, and they have called on politicians to look for a way to give the city's sidewalks back to walkers.</p>

August 11 - The Toronto Star

<p>The city of Germantown, Tennessee, is on the verge of approving a new "Smart Code" based on Smart Growth and New Urbanism principles. City officials are hoping the new zoning changes will allow the city's economy to blossom.</p>

August 11 - The Daily News (Memphis)

<p>Love that powerful behind-the-wheel feeling?</p>

August 10 - Funny Times

<p>Maintaining and rebuilding America's infrastructure could cost over $1 trillion. What's needed is the political will to create a "Federal Infrastructure Bank".</p>

August 10 - The Nation

<p>During debate over the House of Representatives' energy conservation bill, North Carolina Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry ridiculed bicycling as a "19th century solution."</p>

August 10 - Streetsblog

<p>In Kansas City, plans for a new light rail line connecting the city to the nearby international airport will need about $500 million more than originally expected to complete construction and maintain operations.</p>

August 10 - The Kansas City Star

<p>Government officials have plans to keep more than a million cars out of Beijing for four days this summer as an experiment to see how the city's notoriously poor air quality can improve.</p>

August 10 - The Times Of India

The idea of creating "complete streets" for cyclists, pedestrians, mass transit, and cars is gaining popularity across the country.

August 10 - USA Today

<p>After the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis, many commuters have had to rearrange their commute by finding new routes or taking transit.</p>

August 10 - Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune

<p>The city of Toronto originally had more park space than New York's Central Park. But the need to generate revenue caused the city to sell off much of its parkspace over the years, leaving a city with comparably few open spaces.</p>

August 10 - The Toronto Star

BLOG POST

<p>After the dramatic collapse of the Minneapolis freeway bridge last week, the collective hand-wringing began. The bridge was known to be faulty, but had not been replaced. Our entire public transit system is underfunded, we were told.</p><p>In addition to transportation infrastructure, those concerned with urban issues have a litany of complaints about American cities. Our transit systems are not adequately linked to zoning laws. Our high <a href="http://www.planning.org/APAStore/Search/Default.aspx?p=1814" target="_blank">parking </a>requirements doom alternative modes of transit and drive up development costs. Our policies encourage uncontrolled sprawl, which seemingly nobody likes. Planners&#39; recommendations are too often overruled by ill-informed and politicized zoning boards. Our buildings aren&#39;t energy efficient. City mayors and councils <a href="http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/2007/429/" target="_blank">play politics</a> with projects painstakingly approved through highly democratic review processes. And nobody&#39;s happy when local activists hold undue power over individual projects.</p><p> The solutions we are given are almost as varied as the problems. More centralized planning is often called for, or perhaps more regional planning. However, this seems highly difficult and unlikely in <a href="http://blog.commonmonkeyflower.net/node/233" target="_blank">most places</a> where land use is regulated by many small municipalities. Some suggest the solution is more public input on infrastructure and private projects to enhance their quality, while others think we need less input to speed them along and reduce the costs incurred by delays. Some are convinced elaborate flexible or form-based zoning holds the key to better cities, although implementation seems frustratingly difficult. Some cynics conclude that perhaps it is American cultural biases that produce our flawed cities: maybe Americans just like it this way, living with decaying infrastructure, long commutes, but low taxes.</p><p> The motley list of solutions almost never includes the one thing that actually has overcome the myriad of obstacles to good city building before: a broad-based and robust conversation to create solutions, money, and political support.</p>

August 10 - Robert Goodspeed