United States

The New Global Warming Pariahs - Pushing Adaptation and Land Use Changes

Is CO2 buildup responsible for the enormous hurricane damage, or is it overdevelopment? Should we be spending so much attempting to reduce carbon emissions, or could it be better spent reducing problems that will be exacerbated by global warming?

March 29, 2008 - The Los Angeles Times

Census Report Reveals Top Growing Cities

A new report from the U.S. Census shows that the Sunbelt continues to lead the nation in population growth, with Dallas-Fort Worth showing the greatest gains.

March 28, 2008 - CNN Money

Computer Problems Prompt Census Bureau to Rethink Counting Method

Technological issues with the handheld computers to be used in the U.S. Census Bureau's 2010 Census have frustrated officials and have them considering a plan to return to the traditional paper and pencil counting method of years past.

March 27, 2008 - CNN

U.S. Cities Face Housing Abandonment Crisis

Cities are trying different strategies -- including lawsuits and selling off housing units for $1.00 -- to deal with mass housing abandonment.

March 27, 2008 - Yahoo! News

A New, Greener Deal

As part of a series of articles in The Nation on a New "New Deal", Bill McKibben argues that we need a huge investment of labor and money into green initiatives.

March 25, 2008 - The Nation

Who's Ready for Peak Oil?

Report ranks largest 50 US cities by their readiness for $4+ a gallon gas and $100+ a barrel oil prices

March 24, 2008 - Common Current

Army Corps of Dysfunction

Dysfunctional and wasteful practices have defined the army Corps of Engineers for years. Despite being caught in the act many times, the Corps continues to propose and push forward unnecessary projects, according to this article.

March 22, 2008 - Grist

Friday Funny: The End of America's Love Affair with the Car

Assuming everything is fine in its long-time relationship with America, the car comes home to an unhappy surprise in this cartoon from Streetsblog.

March 21, 2008 - Streetsblog

'Slumburbia': Exurban Decay Spurred By Mortgage Crisis

The mortgage crisis is devastating many communities far from urban centers, while 'inner cities', regionally speaking, are weathering the financial storm far better thanks to their urban form that makes them attractive to those that can afford them.

March 21, 2008 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Domestic Migration Slows Even In Sunbelt Due To Housing Crisis

The nation's housing downturn has spread to the fastest growing counties in the sunbelt, where most saw reduced domestic migration in the year ending July 1, 2007, while more rural counties experienced population losses.

March 21, 2008 - USA Today

Will the Housing Bubble Swallow the Fed?

J.P. Morgan's federally-back purchase of Bear Stearns holds billions in dubious "mortgage backed securities," and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are pumping hundreds of billions into the market. Time may be running out for the Federal Reserve.

March 20, 2008 - The Huffington Post

Iraq War Spending: What Could We Have Built Instead?

Robert Pollin & Heidi Garrett-Peltier writing in The Nation show that the U.S. has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq that could have been much more productively invested in public goods like sustainable infrastructure.

March 18, 2008 - The Nation

The Army Corps and The Mississippi River: An Interactive Look

Grist offers this interactive look at various Army Corps of Engineers projects along the Mississippi River, part of its series on the Corp and the River.

March 18, 2008 - Grist

Big Dig's Aftershocks

A look at how the specter of Boston's Big Dig cast a dark shadow over proposed freeway replacement plans in Seattle and other cities.

March 17, 2008 - The Boston Globe

Replacing Transit with Toll Roads

The Department of Transportation under President Bush has placed an emphasis on market-based measures such as toll roads to alleviate congestion, and this has public transit advocates worried that the Federal government sees no role for transit.

March 17, 2008 - The Washington Post

Global Impacts on Downtowns

This report from Progressive Urban Management Associates outlines the ten trends that will impact downtowns over the next two decades.

March 17, 2008 - Downtown Idea Exchange

How Mechanization Can Help Cities Rethink Parking

March 17, 2008 - Shannon Sanders McDonald, AIA

Implications of Driving Less

A new report from the American Public Transportation Association hypothesizes that people who live in places shaped by transit tend to drive less thereby reducing their overall petroleum use and their carbon footprint.

March 16, 2008 - American Public Transportation Association (APTA)

Friday Funny: DOT Plans Special Lanes for Dangerous Drivers

The Onion reports on an innovative new infrastructure plan from DOT: self-cleaning special lanes for reckless drivers.

March 14, 2008 - The Onion

Smart Growthers Snooze, EJ Advocates Roar, Carbon Solutions Wither

The coal industry, electric utilities and manufacturers are in line to get trillions of dollars in federal funding to reduce carbon emissions, leaving virtually no money for smart growth and transit solutions to climate change.

March 14, 2008 - California Planning & Development Repot

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.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.