The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

In an age of rapid technological improvements in almost every aspect of life, it's difficult to understand how a technology like trains could actually be less advanced now than it was in the 1940s, writes Tom Vanderbilt.

May 16 - Slate

Beth Noveck, deputy director for Open Government in the Obama Administration, talks about dealing with the noise of online collaboration and how to make social networks functional for civic participation.

May 16 - Government Techonlogy

Fuled by casino cash, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community is buying up sections of Scott County, Minnesota at a rate that has local planners spinning.

May 16 - Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune

Water shortages and environmentally-based restrictions are leaving Central California's agricultural lands dry. As a result, farmers are increasingly tapping into groundwater sources. Many are calling on the state to monitor the use of its aquifers.

May 16 - The New York Times

The Onion reports on the "window-shattering ceremony" officially opening Detroit's newest slum, a neighborhood designed with the "latest in high-risk, hopelessly impoverished housing options."

May 15 - The Onion

...or not. Only 3 senators bothered to show up for his confirmation hearing. The discussion centered around the failure of the FTA to get funding to ailing transit systems across the country.

May 15 - Streetsblog

A private development of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, City Creek Center will be the largest mixed-use project in Salt Lake City.

May 15 - The New York Times

FEATURE

With the auto industry struggling and car dealerships closing shop, what future do you see for empty car lots? Vote on ideas submitted by the Planetizen community, or suggest your own.

May 15 - Planetizen

According to the 2000 Census, the City of Lowell, Massachussetts has 105,000 people. Mayor Edward "Bud" Caulfield says they were wrong, and is doing everything he can to make the 2010 numbers accurate.

May 15 - The Lowell Sun

Water is predicted by many to be the reason for future conflicts. But are water wars really in our future? <em>SEED</em> magazine asks a panel of experts.

May 15 - Seed

With growing concern over safety, Chico, CA, is considering creating new zoning restrictions to control where medical marijuana can be grown.

May 15 - ChicoER.com

Legislation is being introduced in Congress to guide the course of the next five years of federal transportation spending, focusing on reducing per capita vehicle miles traveled and decreasing truck freight shipping.

May 15 - The Washington Post

Minorities are on the rise in the U.S., but the rates of growth for Hispanics and Asians are slowing down, according to recent Census figures.

May 15 - The New York Times

Anthony Flint says that we have a lot of work ahead of us to retrofit America for the next century, from replacing water heaters to replacing old government structures with new, more regional ones.

May 15 - Citiwire.net

There is a near-consensus on the deficiencies of big box retail, but municipalities don't have the will to turn them down. Provinces must step in with development guidelines, writes Christopher Hume.

May 15 - Toronto Star

In an effort to raise some cash, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed selling off some of the state's historic landmarks -- including San Quentin Prison and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

May 14 - Los Angeles Times

Regional bus service will commence for the first time between Miami and Broward County with the completion of the I-95 Express (HOT) Lanes. Recovery Act funds provided for new diesel-hybrid and articulated buses, GPS and shelters.

May 14 - Miami Herald

City councillors in Ottawa, Canada are caught up in a convoluted struggle over their ability to control the region's urban growth boundary.

May 14 - The Ottawa Citizen

Plans to build a 12,000 home waterfront development on the San Francisco Bay have some environmentalists up in arms. But the developers claim the project will exemplify "smart growth".

May 14 - San Jose Mercury News

Utopian modernism turned on its head in Caracas, where residents have made fifty-year-old superblock housing projects into the locus of sprawling improvised settlements.

May 14 - Triple Canopy