The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>A new law facing the National People's Congress of China looks to put in place massive land reform in the country that would essentially establish the right to private property. This legislation has been pushed forward by the central government.</p>

March 9 - Al Jazeera

<p>Wal-Mart has dropped plans to build a "supercenter" store in the East Bay city of Livermore, which has joined many other Northern California cities that have used local powers to prevent the retailer from moving in.</p>

March 9 - The Contra Costa Times

<p>The prospect of X-rated businesses opening up near homes has residents of the Southern Massachusetts town of Berkley up in arms. With no zoning laws, the location of any new businesses depends on approval by a local governing board.</p>

March 9 - The Boston Globe

As part of a federal plan to accelerate the planning of new multistate highway corridors, Indiana is rallying support for a 63-mile, privately-funded tollway to connect the state to neighboring Illinois.

March 9 - Northwest Indiana Times

<p>Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has campaigned a new program that puts old parking meters to use raising money for homeless services.</p>

March 9 - KEYE-TV 42

BLOG POST

<p>How useful is planning scholarship to planners in practice? Thirty years ago, the author of a British study of information use by planners found, &quot;The journal is not a source of major importance to the planner in practice, though this statement must be taken to reflect inadequate privision and inadequate timeing for reading&quot; (White, 1974). Perspectives differ, but at least some of the problem has been the difficulty of finding relevant scholarship at the moment it is needed. I believe that these difficulties have greatly reduced in the past few years, and that we are on the verge of an unprecedently increase in the use of scholarship in practice fueled by online bibliographic searching and retrieval. From both the scholar&#39;s and the practitioner&#39;s perspectives, this change will have substantial effects.<br /> </p>

March 9 - Bruce Stiftel

<p>The National Trust for Historic Preservation has published its annual list of twelve unique communities with a commitment to preservation.</p>

March 9 - National Trust For Historic Preservation

<p>Even with all the interest in green building, most large scale homebuilders are weary of incorporating green building practices, citing consumers' lack of willingness to pay more.</p>

March 9 - AP via MSN Money

BLOG POST

<p>This week, I came to the Planetizen office to find that I had received a package in the mail containing a matching set of men&#39;s and women&#39;s athletic socks. After opening the box, I learned that these were not ordinary socks – which are manufactured from petroleum derived synthetic fibers – but from a new type of fiber made from corn (which, along with soybeans and bamboo, seems set to become one of the most versatile substances of the 21st century). I&#39;m not really sure why I someone thought I should receive a few pairs of corn-fiber socks (perhaps they knew I&#39;d blog about it), but it did seem to me to be another symbol of how the world is slowly but steadily entering a bold, new, eco-friendly future.</p>

March 8 - Christian Madera

<p>Commentator Neal Peirce argues that the nation's second-tier cities can indeed grow and prosper in partnership with leading metro areas, if we only give them a chance.</p>

March 8 - The Houston Chronicle

<p>Daily Wireless offers a review of the most connected cities in the World. Only two (or five, depending on how you count) are in the US. Several cities might surprise you.</p>

March 8 - Daily Wireless

<p>Entrepreneurial students-turned-developers are turning houses into dorms around San Diego State University to meet the growing demand for affordable housing, but neighbors want the city to crackdown on the practice.</p>

March 8 - The San Diego Union-Tribune

<p>Special districts would allow cities and counties in Central Texas to impose development rules and collect sales and property taxes to pay for roads, streets and utility improvements without requiring immediate provision of city services.</p>

March 8 - Austin American Statesman

<p>Cheap hydroelectric power helped Quincy, Washington -- population 5,300 -- hit the high-tech economy jackpot. But with land prices skyrocketing and local services taxed, might the boom be too much of a good thing?</p>

March 8 - The Wall Street Journal

<p>Video billboards are coming to a town near you. But critics worry that these 'TVs in the sky' are a major safety hazard for motorists.</p>

March 8 - USA Today

<p>Richard Luov, author of Last Child in the Woods, writes of unique partnerships forming to support the growing movement to reconnect children to the natural world.</p>

March 8 - Orion Magazine

<p>State legislators have introduced a bill to connect the Green Line light rail with LAX.</p>

March 8 - The Daily Breeze

<p>Architectural critic John King finds 'starchitects' to be great designers, but troubling to cities.</p>

March 8 - The San Francisco Chronicle

FEATURE

It's not so easy to measure urban density -- either by sight or calculation -- but thoughtful analysis of development intensity can illustrate useful insights into our cities and regions.

March 8 - Terry Holzheimer, PhD

<p>Homes built on large lots in farming areas are causing concern amongst land conservationists who say the patchwork of housing severely compromises the produictivity of the land.</p>

March 8 - Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel