United States

This week, NACTO released a preview of its Urban Street Design Guidebook, a document meant to assist local governments in designing their streets on the principle that they're spaces for people and commerce as well as arteries for traffic.

October 25, 2012 - Next American City

"Since the beginning of 2011, 180 bills restricting voting and voter registration have been introduced in 41 states. Over 70% of the electoral votes needed to win the 2012 Presidential election will come from states with new restrictive voting laws."

October 25, 2012 - Shelterforce Magazine

A vast expanse of prairies and grasslands, the Great Plains have long been considered a barren wasteland with little potential for growth. A new report by Joel Kotkin, Praxis Strategy Group, and Kevin Mulligan of Texas Tech claims otherwise.

October 25, 2012 - New Geography

Justin Gillis discusses the controversy over President Obama's and Governor Romney's decision to skirt the topic of climate change during the presidential debates.

October 25, 2012 - The New York Times

National Journal engaged several experts on the state of transportation infrastructure. Both Ken Orski and Rep. Earl Blumenhauer examine different aspects of the 'Infrastructure Deficit". What can we expect to see in the next four years?

October 24, 2012 - National Journal

Chuck Raasch looks at how combining services can help local governments "to capitalize on the economics of scale and offset declining revenue since the Great Recession."

October 23, 2012 - USA Today

Recent studies show that upwards of 77% of Millennials are opting to live in urban areas. The impact on the local economy will be huge, IF urban planners rethink how we build our downtowns.

October 23, 2012 - ICIC Inner City Exchange

Katie Pearce discusses the surprising findings of a new study from the Center for Housing Policy and the Center for Neighborhood Technology that evaluates why it can be more affordable to live in an “expensive” city.

October 21, 2012 - Streetsblog D.C.

Charles Marohn discusses the CNU NextGen initiative "Investment Ready Places" by Street Sense. The new booklet provides strategies for identifying and investing in America’s “new frontier for development.”

October 19, 2012 - Better! Cities & Towns

The Clean Water Act turns 40 this week. For Mark Gold, this calls for a celebratory overview of the many environmental successes it has produced, as well as careful consideration of the steps needed for it to be effective in years to come.

October 19, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

Electric-car-battery manufacturer A123 Systems received $249 million in federal grants. It filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 16, prompting Bloomberg reporter Angela Greiling Keane to look at the progress of President Obama's goal of 1 million EVs by 2015

October 19, 2012 - San Francisco Chronicle

A change made last month in the regulations concerning which buildings the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) judges to be eligible for financing could enable the construction of more mixed-use walkable developments, reports Angie Schmitt.

October 18, 2012 - Streetsblog D.C.

There's been a change at the top of Forbes' annual list of America's most expensive zip codes, writes Morgan Brennan. For the first time ever, a neighborhood in New York City tops the list.

October 17, 2012 - Forbes

"Another debate, another lack of urban topics," bemoans Matt Bevilacqua, reporting on last night's presidential town hall debate. Once again, issues of relevance to planners (climate change, transportation, housing, etc.) got nary a mention.

October 17, 2012 - Next American City

Richard Florida discusses why "quality of place", rather than job opportunity, is the determining factor in where creative-minded people choose to live.

October 16, 2012 - Urban Land Magazine

A New York state law on the books since the 1980s undervalues property tax rates on multimillion dollar residential buildings, providing astonishing discounts to New York City’s wealthiest homeowners.

October 16, 2012 - The New York Times

If you were confused by recent census data that named four California metros, including Delano (pop 53,819), as the most dense in America, a new report that looks at "population-weighted density" may deliver more satisfying results.

October 15, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

In this month's edition of its Planning Advisory Service (PAS) spotlight, the APA looks at the ways in which different communities are addressing homelessness in their comprehensive plans, and through other types of documents.

October 15, 2012 - APA

With the convention industry still hobbled by the effects of the recession, and a glut of convention space across America hungering for events, cities are going to extreme lengths to attract the expected injections to their local economies.

October 15, 2012 - The Wall Street Journal

SPUR, the San Francisco-based planing think tank, looks at the potential benefits to the public sector of using dynamic, demand-based pricing to manage limited public resources - from parking to electricity.

October 15, 2012 - SPUR