The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

FEATURE

While many local governments have been utilizing the eminent domain powers granted to them by the Kelo case, the American Planning Association hasn't been successful in finding ways to limit the decision's negative effects. But as Richard May, FAICP explains, there are many ways to reduce any damage done.

April 30 - Richard May, FAICP

<p>In California, a huge team of volunteers is building the nation's largest playground for disabled children, equipped with slides and ramps wide enough for wheelchairs, rubber ground padding, and textured play surfaces for blind children.</p>

April 30 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>As Baby Boomers reach retirement age, many homebuilders are seeing a demand for housing that can accommodate the boomers, their aging parents, and even their adult children and grandchildren.</p>

April 30 - The Seattle Times

<p>The Presidio of San Francisco -- the nation's only privately-operated National Park -- has been trying for years to redevelop one of its buidings into an apartment complex. Citing local concerns, a recent proposal for 350 units has been denied.</p>

April 30 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>Condo projects in New York are adding community-building features to new developments that encourage residents to come out of their homes and interact.</p>

April 29 - The New York Times

<p>A sparsely-populated rural county in South Carolina is expecting the development of more than 40,000 homes over the next couple of years, which will more than double the population. County officials are looking to create a smat growth plan.</p>

April 29 - The New York Times

<p>A progressive -- if cynical -- argument for privatizing Amtrak: only private interests can borrow the necessary capital to upgrade it, and have the clout necessary to lobby Congress to support the service adequately.</p>

April 29 - Truthout

<p>A growing number communities have adopted inclusionary zoning polices as the price of housing has risen dramatically over the past several years. The question remains: does it work?</p>

April 29 - On Common Ground

<p>L.A.'s sprawl is not so much a matter of choice as of policy, with even its downtown artificially limited to a 6:1 FAR. But as the city clamors for greater density, a clever plan to transfer air rights is in the works.</p>

April 29 - The Planning Report

<p>The growing population of single-person households may be an ecological time bomb, suggests Heidi Sopinka.</p>

April 28 - The Globe and Mail

<p>Though funding is not ensured, the Miami-Dade Transit Authority has received permission from the federal government to start acquiring land for its 9.5 mile Metrorail line expansion.</p>

April 28 - The Miami Herald

<p>Creating new developments in historic European cities is a struggle for developers, who often endure long waits for planning approval and strong opposition from preservationists.</p>

April 28 - International Herald Tribune

<p>From monthly 'Critical Mass' bike rides to growing influence on city policy, SF cyclists recount their numerous victories and recent setbacks.</p>

April 28 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>A new approach to land assembly gives property owners a stake in redevelopment, and offers a alternative to the use eminent domain.</p>

April 28 - Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

<p>It's been six years since the creation of the Segway personal transporter, and this talk show from <em>The Onion News Network</em> looks at the phenomenon that has changed the way we live our lives.</p>

April 27 - The Onion News Network

<p>Rising gas prices have caused a noticeable increase in public transit ridership in Seattle. The rising demand has fueled transit officials to push for service expansion.</p>

April 27 - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Dams have been decimating the population of salmon in Northern California's Klamath River for years, and now Native Americans who depend on the salmon are traveling to visit the owner of the dams to appeal for their removal.

April 27 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>Land is being grabbed up all over India in efforts to industrialize the country and bring in foreign investment. The country's poor in these primarily agricultural areas are disproportionately affected by these acquisitions.</p>

April 27 - International Herald Tribune

<p>Two Bay Area 'voices' illustrate that lowering carbon content of fuel and increasing its efficiency hardly gets at the root of the transportation-global warming problem -- auto dependency, and offer three strategies to solve it.</p>

April 27 - World Changing.com

<p>Through the use of a city-wide form-based code, the City of Miami and Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company are teaming up to create a more walkable, transit-oriented city.</p>

April 27 - The Miami Hurricane