California
California High Speed Rail On Life Support
California's governor supports infrastructure funding and fights global warming, but he has no love for high speed rail. His proposed budget may kill a high speed rail agency, and he wants a $9.95 billion rail bond removed from the 2008 ballot.
For Many, 'The End of The American Dream'
Interest-only loans and ARMs once touted as a panacea have now become the vehicle for massive foreclosures as financially distressed owners can no longer afford their expensive homes.
Gehry's Grand Scheme For L.A.
Can Frank Gehry's plan for Downtown L.A.'s Grand Avenue transform it into the cultural center civic leaders have been chasing for decades?
California's Job Growth Explodes Inland
Since 1990, inland California counties have contributed five times the job growth as coastal counties. Southern California's Riverside and San Bernardino counties accounted for 510,000 of the 1.1 million jobs added by the inland regions.
Hooray For Hollywood's Urban Renaissance
After decades of being victim to urban blight and decay, the world famous locale is experiencing a wave of redevelopment aimed at wooing back tourists and attracting new residents.
Children Living Near Highways Risk Lifelong Damage
A 13-year study by researchers from the University of Southern California finds that children living near busy highway risk lifelong respiratory problems.
Home Loan Defaults, Foreclosures On The Rise
Number of home owners defaulting on mortgage loans is rising in California.
Habitat For Humanity Encounters Affluent California NIMBYism
The Jimmy Carter charity, long identified with "sweat equity" and affordable housing, is confronting strong, residential opposition in its application to build four homes to accompany three market-rate homes in affluent Marin County west of Tiburon.
Not Much Money Have The Meters Made
Low parking meter collection rates have shocked public officials in San Francisco, where parking is so valuable people are literally killing for it.
Why Carpool Lanes Don't Work
Do we need new carpool lanes or just new rules for the existing ones?
San Francisco A Car-Sharing Mecca
Growing demand for the innovative service is sustaining three competing car-sharing companies.
Governments Subsidizing 'Server Farms'
Amid a flurry of subsidies in other states offered to companies like Microsoft and Yahoo!, Google plans to open a $600 million data center in Lenoir, North Carolina, population 17,000. The city will offer a generous tax break and a state grant.
Coastal Town Gives Developer A Major Challenge
After a $1.3 million campaign, residents of Pacifica, California rejected a developer's proposal for a new hotel, shopping center, and residential community master planned by Duany Plater-Zyberk. But the developer's not giving up yet.
Columnist Lampoons LA's Deputy Mayor for Transportation on His Hummer
Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez takes the city's Deputy Mayor for Transportation to task for driving a Hummer. 'It's smaller than a Yukon.'
Town-Gown Showdown
The City of Santa Cruz and its University of California campus are struggling to come to terms with the university’s ambitious plans for growth and its impact on the city.
In California, Fast Food Entrepreneur Buys Route 66 Town
Fast-food chicken baron Albert Okura purchased Route 66 town of Amboy, home to a well known landmark of roadside architecture.
Growth Boundary Extension Approved Before Impact Reports Completed
The Pittsburg, California, City Council has unanimously approved an extension of the city's urban growth boundary to include 1,600 more acres of foothills. This extension was approved by voters in 2005, but some argue the initiative was deceptive.
Adult Business Moves Into Historic Building To Make Love Not War
The old San Francisco Armory, which has sat empty for more than three decades in city's Mission district, has found a new use, but local residents aren't exactly excited about this latest chapter of the neighborhood's gentrification.
Chain Stores Invade New York, Not San Francisco
Chain stores have invaded Manhattan and now look to open in other New York City neighborhoods. Meanwhile, San Francisco's planning commission has the power to reject chain retail and restaurants. And they have been using that power.
Developer Demands Doubling Height For Supermarket Deal
East Palo Alto may be one of the few U.S cities of 30,000 residents lacking a supermarket. Now this 23-year-old city is close to getting one on a 6-acre vacant lot, but increased land costs forced the new developer to renegotiate the prior plan.
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
