Agriculture
As Developing Countries Urbanize, Food Booms
A new study shows that agricultural output in the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China will be three times as great as those in the developed world. Increasing urbanization is seen as one of the drivers of this growth
A Rural Future Beyond Agriculture
Development in rural America has long been a confounding problem. Increasing outmigration highlights the importance of finding new methods for economic development beyond agriculture.
New Crop on BC Farms: RVs
With fruit prices way down, some farmers in British Columbia are taking their fields out of production and renting them out as RV parks. The government in Kelowna, BC, is not happy.
Infrastructure the Limiting Factor for Local Food Movement
The local food movement is growing in popularity, but a lack of related agricultural and processing infrastructure is holding back its spread.
Splicing Small Farms into Residential Development
Small farms are increasingly being integrated into new housing development proposals. One new project in Washington is betting on the growing popularity of local food to draw in homebuyers.
Land Grab in Africa
In what The Guardian calls "the greatest change of ownership since the colonial era," enormous swaths of African land is being sold to foreign countries seeking agricultural lands to feed their growing populations.
Water Diversion Plan Irks Northern Californians
A plan to divert water from Northern California to the state's agricultural heart in the drought-stricken Central Valley has residents and officials on the offensive.
How We Eat May Be Biggest Impact of Urbanization on Nature
This post from The Nature Conservancy examines the impact of urbanization on nature and finds that our rising food needs will be one of the most important implications.
Fish: the Future of Urban Farming
Cityscape Farms has developed a new technique for farming fish along with vegetables in combined urban food systems that allows them to farm in developed areas.
The Nitty Gritty of Urban Agriculture
A university in British Columbia is opening a "biological pest control laboratory" to develop strategies for small and urban farms to control pests through microbe- and insect-based systems.
Small Farming: It Takes A Village
Local food and small farming are part of a growing food trend in the U.S. But, as Steph Larsen writes, the trend is going to need more infrastructure down the supply chain to sustain itself
NASA Says Agriculture Is Draining Groundwater in California
NASA satellite imagery reveals that two of California's main groundwater sources are being rapidly depleted by agriculture and exurban development.
Ag Secretary Concerned Over Farms-to-Forests Conversion
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has ordered the revision of a forecasting model related to congressional climate legislation that makes the conversion of farmland to forests more lucrative than producing food.
A Farm Future for Detroit?
Agricultural investors are buying up abandoned and empty land in Detroit -- making a big wager on the future of the city as a farm town.
Thirsting in America's Fruit Basket
To protect the endangered Delta Smelt fish, pumping of water from California's Sacramento Delta has been drastically cut back. Add in the state's three-year-long drought, and the result is a major problem for the state's people and farmers.
The Real Inconvenient Truth: Global Land Use
Global warming is a problem, says climate scientist Jonathan Foley, but it's not the only one. The other major problem facing the global environment is a pattern of land use for agriculture that is grossly unsustainable.
California Legislators Pushing For Resolution to Water Crisis
Legislators in California are forming a special session to try to tackle the state's crippling water woes. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is hoping they can hammer out a deal within the week.
Watching Where the Water Goes
Monitoring how much water is diverted from rivers and pumped from wells is notoriously difficult. But now, researchers have developed a new way to track usage.
Is the Local Food Movement Misguided?
Eating local is in vogue, as the environmental impacts of industrialized agriculture surface. But is eating local really the right response? One author says maybe not.
Heart of California's Agriculture on Life-Support
Water restrictions on farms in the state have atrophied jobs in the fertile Central Valley, giving communities some of the highest rates of unemployment in the state. As jobs dry up, the need for aid is surpassing what's there to give.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
Smith Gee Studio
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
