United States
Will Politics Harm Allocation Of $8 Billion In HSR Funds?
The $8 billion in stimulus funds allocated to high speed rail marks a turning point in a road-airport dominated U.S. transportation network, but the politics of allocating the funds may prevent results needed to showcase HSR.
Cities Begin To Rethink Parking Policies
Three years after the publication of The High Cost of Free Parking, Prof. Don Shoup's work has begun to take hold across the country. Cities from San Francisco to Washington, DC, are starting to curb traffic and recognize the true cost of parking.
Suburban Angst? No Thanks
Contrary to their dismal depiction in novels and films, suburbs are very satisfying places to live, according to a new survey.
Can Obama's Budget Prevent Another Great Depression?
With housing values and sales continuing to plummet along with other major economic indicators, the concern should be about preventing a second great depression, not paying down the deficit, writes Dean Baker.
Malls Reborn as 'Lifestyle Centers'
American shopping malls may be dying or already dead, but they are being reincarnated as mixed-use "lifestyle centers".
Costs and Benefits of Green Jobs
The stimulus package promises to create new green jobs, but are they really the economic solution they're cracked up to be? This piece from Slate questions the common perception.
Bike Sharing, C'est Bien en Paris
Jay Walljasper writes that bike-sharing programs are transforming life in European cities from Oslo to Rome, Barcelona to Vienna, and giving visitors a great new way to sightsee.
Satisfied in the Suburb
According to the Pew Research Center, suburban dwellers are the most content with where they live, despite reports that also find that suburbs are not regarded the most ideal places to live.
Don't Regulate the Suburbs
The Heritage Foundation decries Obama's anti-sprawl policies, claiming that smart growth strategies have only managed to raise housing prices around the country.
Experts Question $8 Billion HSR Stimulus Investment
No one expects the $8 billion to build any one single high-speed-rail system in the U.S. But the U.S., with its vast distances and low gas prices, is not Europe or Asia, and some question whether the investment will produce any substantial results.
Traffic Down 30% in Cities: How?
New data show that in 2008 traffic congestion in the nation's cities declined by 30 percent, the result not of new roads or transit, but of modest declines in VMT.
Negative Equity on Nearly One-Fifth of U.S. Homes
About one out of every five homes in America is worth less than what is still owed on its mortgage. The highest rates of negative equity are in Nevada, Michigan, Arizona, Florida and California.
Incentive Program to Ward Off 4 Million Foreclosures
The Obama Administration has outlined plans to assist nearly 4 million homeowners in danger of foreclosure. The total cost to taxpayers runs close to $75 billion.
A Model For Public Works, But A Bad One
The Highway Act of 1956 that resulted in the construction of America's Interstate Highway system has gathered a lot of praise recently as a model economy-boosting public works project. But based on the problems it's caused, that praise should stop.
How States are Divvying Up the Transportation Money
This article provides a general breakdown of how state governments plan to use the first installment of transportation spending money from the stimulus. The leeway states have in how to spend has sparked debates among legislators.
From Concrete Box to LEED-Certified
Prisons around the country are looking less and less like the typical concrete box; Washington state has 34 LEED-certified prisons, some of which offer "green work" programs.
Mortgage Rescue Plan Rolls Out
Americans caught up in the foreclosure crisis can now apply for relief from the Obama Administration's new "loan modification plan."
Don't Fear the VMT Fee
The Christian Science Monitor editorializes in support of the VMT fee replacing the gas tax just as the latest federal transportation financing commission report recommends, as Oregon Governor Kulongoski hopes to do, and as some will do in Europe.
Stimulus Should Get Rail Back on Track
Treehugger interviews urban designer, New Urbanist, and rail advocate Andy Kunz about the stimulus package and how it will benefit high speed rail in America.
Shovels Are In Motion, Says Obama
The President and V.P. addressed the Department of Transportation today, stating that the new investment in infrastructure "will create or save 150,000 jobs by the end of next year, most of them in the private sector."
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.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association
