Transportation
Japan's Bullet Trains to Top 310 MPH by 2025
High speed train technology is progressing at a rapid pace in Japan, where mag-lev bullet trains are planned to travel at speeds of more than 310 miles per hour by the year 2025.
A Nation Goes Carbon-Neutral
The Maldives has pledged to be entirely carbon-neutral by 2020. The president has hired a team of environmentalists to put the pledge into action.
Unappreciated Cyclists In Sausalito
Marin County has a reputation to live up to. In this column, Sausalito does just that in its treatment of hordes of cycling tourists who rent bikes on Fisherman's Wharf, pedal across the GG Bridge to have lunch in Sausalito, and return on the ferry.
OK City Not OK for Walking
Jeff Speck takes a walk in Oklahoma City and finds too-wide streets, too-low density and too much danger for pedestrians.
Time May Be Right for Mag-Lev From Vegas to SoCal
A magnetic levitation train link between Anaheim and Las Vegas has been on the table for 30 years. Now could be the time the project finally gets enough traction to go from idea to reality.
San Francisco Rail: A Living History
S.F. historian Carl Nolte examines S.F.'s vibrant streetcar history and today's modern light rail replacements.
Signs of Spring for Smart Growth
The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that President Obama signed on Feb. 17 left advocates of compact and transit-oriented development practically biting their tongues.
A Carbon-Neutral City?
A region known more for carbon emissions strives to create a carbon-neutral city powered by renewable energy and designed to reduce overall energy demand.
Texas Prairie Endangered By Stimulus Funding
A proposed toll road near Houston exemplifies an unintended effect of the stimulus: encouraging sprawl.
Virginia Bans the Cul-De-Sac In New Subdivisions
Through streets in new neighborhoods will reduce traffic on and the cost of maintaining overburdened arterials, but builders and residents say it'll make their communities less safe and attractive.
O'Toole Says Trains Are For Tourists
Randall O'Toole- in a curiously non-audio opinion piece from NPR- says that trains around the world are fun but are otherwise overly expensive transportation systems used mainly by the elite.
Lightweight Blocks Cut Rail Costs and Timelines
Light rail developers in Utah are cutting costs and timelines with a new and unlikely track base: foam.
End of the Road for the RV?
Between the spike in gas prices in 2008 and the current recession, the RV industry is in serious trouble as the market for enormous homes on wheels dries up.
MTA Service Cuts, Block by Block
Regional Plan Association of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut has mapped out the impact of all MTA's service cuts for every State Assembly and Senate district in the region. There's also an interactive Google Map.
Texans for Transit
Officials in North Texas showed significant support yesterday for legislation to raise money for billions of dollars in road and rail improvements.
The News Hour Reports On Public Transit In Peril
"Blueprint America" looks at declining public transit subsidies and resulting transit service cuts. The video and report follows two East Bay commuters on suburban bus, BART; the transit agency meeting where bus service is reduced; MUNI LRT footage.
A New Paris, as Dreamed by Planners
Nine-month study commissioned by President Nicolas Sarkozy aims to transform Paris and its surrounding suburbs into the first sustainable “post-Kyoto" city.
Amsterdam Leading Green City Movement
In the next few months, the Dutch capital will make numerous changes to make its infrastructure greener. With the help of private companies like Cisco and IBM, Amsterdam is closer to becoming a "smart city" than any other in Europe.
Playing Catch-Up with Rail
Have high-speed rail stimulus funds put us any closer to technology like mag-lev? A long record of underfunding makes many of such projects shovel-unready, but hopes are still high.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
