The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>Crews will soon begin installing metered parking on many of the city's free curbside parking spaces in an effort to move residents away from private cars.</p>

May 8 - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

<p>Washington University Medical Center Executive Director Brian Phillips -- who lived in the infamous Pruitt-Igoe public housing project as a child -- is leading the efforts to redevelop the surrounding neighborhoods.</p>

May 8 - Washington University Record

<p>An agreement between 21 nations has banned the highly destructive commercial fishing practice known as bottom trawling in the South Pacific seas, which accounts for more than one-quarter of the world's oceans.</p>

May 8 - BBC

<p>Planners in Eugene, Oregon, have nixed plans for light rail in favor of a bus rapid transit system. However, they say the system's dedicated lanes could be converted into light rail routes in the future if the population increases enough.</p>

May 8 - The Columbian

<p>California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has pledged his support for high speed rail in the state, and has called on legislators to draft a comprehensive plan to fund the project.</p>

May 8 - The Fresno Bee

<p>The beach community of Jacksonville Beach invites Florida's own walking expert Dan Burden to walk its streets with them.</p>

May 8 - Jacksonville Times Union

<p>Edgy architecture and varied development along the Seine Riverfront in Paris has many in the city predicting an economic surge for the aging urban area. But others say the land should be used for parks and open space.</p>

May 8 - The New York Times

<p>Major initiative to upgrade a transportation system trying to keep up with China's rapid economic growth includes high-speed trains and what is reportedly the world's largest bus.</p>

May 7 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Pittsburgh was just named America's "most livable city," but don't try telling that to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Bill Steigerwald. In a column for Reason.com, Steigerwald writes, "Pittsburgh is in a death spiral.</p>

May 7 - Reason Online

<p>The "Places Rated Almanac" ranks Pittsburgh as the nation's most livable city. Rounding out the top three are San Francisco and Seattle.</p>

May 7 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

<p>Seattle-based affordable housing developers use the city's green building standards and grant programs to get many affordable housing projects started in the city and beyond.</p>

May 7 - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

<p>With world's urbanized population now at 50 percent, urban living seems set to be the global norm -- though its unclear if many cities can cope with the challenge.</p>

May 7 - The Economist

<p>Downtown redevelopment plans that will bring a hotel and retail complex and create a transit-oriented pedestrian-only plaza have been unanimously approved in Berkeley, California.</p>

May 7 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>With strong municipal involvement, the town of Roubaix has attracted textile shops and created cultural places in industrial buildings.</p>

May 7 - BBC News

<p>A recent HUD journal article assesses the origins of the smart growth movement, and its current and anticipated impact on urban development in the United States.</p>

May 7 - Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research

FEATURE

Rather than seeking to eliminate the presence of the informal sector, urban planning should seek to accommodate this important component of urban economies.

May 7 - Deden Rukmana

<p>The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) latest report focuses on relatively low cost strategies to reduce the emissions of global warming gases -- at least when compared to cost of inaction.</p>

May 7 - The New York Times

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal">Just east of downtown Brooklyn on a 22 acre site Forest City Ratner is proposing a mega-project that would transform the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) Vanderbilt rail yards and a few adjacent blocks into 6,430 units of housing, 336,000 feet of office space, 247,000 feet of retail space, a hotel and an arena that would be the new home of the NBA New Jersey Nets.<span> </span>Like almost any mega-project proposed in a dense city like New York, Atlantic Yards is raising the ire of many.<span> </span>In this case, however, the names and roles of the usual suspects have changed.<span> </span>At least some view the developer as a savior and champion of the inner city poor, while many of the project’s opponents are viewed as reactionary elites only concerned about the potential loss of their parking spaces.<span> </span>This reversal of protagonists is due in large part to the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) negotiated between the developer and several community groups.<span> </span></p>

May 7 - Lance Freeman

<p>As if Mumbai didn't have enough traffic problems, a Boeing 737 jet was left abandoned on a busy street, only to mysteriously disappear several days later.</p>

May 7 - BBC News

<p>The land use policy in the US Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement calling for smart growth caused a Bay Area mayor to refrain from signing the agreement, believing that limiting density would be better for the environment.</p>

May 6 - San Mateo County Times