The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>As Vancouver prepares for the 2010 Winter Olympics, rampant homelessness and a lack of affordable low-income housing threatens to tarnish the city's Olympic gold.</p>

May 31 - The Tyee

<p>Scottish adventurer Rory Stewart and the Turquoise Mountain Foundation are striving to preserve and restore the unique qualities of old Kabul as it recovers from decades of war.</p>

May 31 - The Globe and Mail

<p>In the first of his postings for Grist Magazine, author Wayne Curtis sets the watery stage of his new home in New Orleans.</p>

May 30 - Grist

<p>North San Jose's redevelopment plan calls for 32,000 apartments and 7 million sq.ft of industry along the light rail line, but demand for the latter has dropped. Now the school district wants 4 new schools while the city insists only 1 is necessary.</p>

May 30 - San Jose Mercury News

<p>Iran reports that it has "no exact report" about Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American urban planning professor and consultant who was detained around May 11 and is now missing.</p>

May 30 - San Diego Union Tribute / Associated Press

<p>With relatively affordable housing stock and an increasingly desirable urban environment, Baltimore has attracted single female homebuyers at twice the national average.</p>

May 30 - The Baltimore Sun

BLOG POST

<p>4 tools that support community building at the street level.</p><p>Just heard from my co-worker, Chris Haller, who is at Where 2.0 that Google has announced yet another cool tool for visualization. Street View provides panoramic views embedded as an additional view to g-maps. Initially this tool is only available in 5 cities: Denver, Las Vegas, Miami, New York and San Francisco. </p><p>Was able to locate the following YouTube <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91wuBqlny50">demo</a>. Corny video, but cool technology.</p>

May 30 - Ken Snyder

<p>If public participation is a goal, local government should work harder to make public hearings more user-friendly.</p>

May 30 - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

<p>FasTracks, the Denver metro area's plan to add over 100 miles of rail service, is forcing once suburban communities to consider higher density development.</p>

May 30 - The Denver Post

<p>In their annual trip to cities that work better than theirs does, Atlanta leaders visit Vancouver to see first-hand the benefits of density, transit and regional planning.</p>

May 30 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

<p>Land use is finally being addressed in California as an intrinsic part of the state's global warming reduction strategy, thanks to passage of the Global Warming Solutions Act and a recent lawsuit by the attorney general against a sprawling county.</p>

May 30 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>Policies can create a yin and yang effect in gentrification movements.</p>

May 30 - On Common Ground

<p>Toronto, Canada's largest city, could learn a lot by looking at Chicago, writes Margaret Wente.</p>

May 30 - The Globe and Mail

<p>A bill facing parliament in India would provide a broad social security program for nearly 400 million poor workers in India. Some say the $22 billion program will cost too much to sustain.</p>

May 30 - BBC

<p>L.A. Times editorial compares carbon taxes and carbon trading schemes and argues that carbon taxes are the best way to combat global warming.</p>

May 29 - The Los Angeles Times

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal">With the coming of summer, students finish courses, faculty head off to do research, and practitioners think about vacations. However, for those interested in keeping up to date with academic issues in planning, a number of bloggists provide useful insights into the politics and hot issues in planning education. For students they are a window into the work of educators and for practicing planners they are an easy way to keep up to date with what’s happening in the schools.</p>

May 29 - Ann Forsyth

<p>Heathrow Airport is set to launch what may be the world's largest trial of a personal rapid transit (PRT) system. The electric "pod cabs" will carry passengers and luggage from a parking area to a new terminal -- a journey of about four minutes.</p>

May 29 - The Times (UK)

<p>This column from <em>The Washington Post</em> examines the city's general opposition too revising its building height restrictions -- limits that have been in place for nearly 100 years.</p>

May 29 - The Washington Post

<p>A German tour operator has purchased the entirety of a village in Tuscany with plans to turn it into a mega-resort for vacationing Europeans. Many in the village were upset at the sale, which they say will destroy the local character.</p>

May 29 - The Guardian

<p>Arizona legislators have passed a bill limiting urban and rural growth in areas where water is in low supply. Final approval is expected from the governor.</p>

May 29 - The Los Angeles Times