Government / Politics

As new research data on cities pours in daily, interesting patterns emerge regarding income, green space and urban growth. Like people in their genetic make-up, are cities fundamentally all the same?

June 28, 2012 - The Economist

Ernest Harsch interviews UN-Habitat Director Joan Clos on the challenges facing African cities in an age of unprecedented urbanization, from the abundance of slums to the threat of natural disasters.

June 27, 2012 - Independent Online

Anthony Flint reports on the actions of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative lobbying group that is working behind the scenes to weaken the power of local zoning restrictions.

June 27, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

As Baltimore wrestles with the difficult decision between closing fire stations or selling adspace on fire trucks, Michael Cooper reports on an approach more and more cities are taking to curb budget shortfalls.

June 26, 2012 - New York Times

An urban renewal development reaches a violent climax as a clash breaks out between construction workers and protesters.

June 26, 2012 - Taipei Times

John Schlichting has been a developer for 26 years, but on July 9th he leaves private business to become the planning director for the City of Gaithersburg, Maryland.

June 26, 2012 - The Maryland Gazette

In this excerpt from the new book, "City Rules: How Regulations Affect Urban Form," author Emily Talen outlines the ways in which zoning ordinances, building codes and other bureaucratic restrictions negatively affect urban areas.

June 26, 2012 - City Limits

Sandy Springs, Georgia has taken the libertarian tip and privatized almost every city service - including planning. So does it work?

June 25, 2012 - The New York Times

Despite many studies confirming the effect of induced traffic, the effect is often ignored in the transport models used for project appraisal, says a team of Scandanavian researchers creating an extreme bias in the assessment of new projects.

June 25, 2012 - European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research

The federal government gives more research and development subsidies to fossil fuels than clean energy technologies. But, why?

June 24, 2012 - Grist

Under intense political pressure to retain the full application of the CA Environmental Quality Act to CA High Speed Rail project, Gov. Brown withdrew his proposal to allow the project certain exceptions to lawsuits.

June 23, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

Announced this week by Deputy Mayor Robert Steel, a new program being launched by the Department of City Planning on July 2 will seek to dramatically improve the time it takes a project to traverse the city's land use approval process.

June 22, 2012 - The Real Deal

Forever plagued with issues, from lack of funding to a lack of political support, Philadelphia's SEPTA mass-transit network is (again) on the verge of collapse.

June 22, 2012 - Philadelphia City Paper

While glimmers of a recovery can be seen in the eyes of private business, local governments continue to see red, shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs.

June 21, 2012 - The New York Times

Hot on the heels of the hard fought passage of a new community plan for Hollywood comes news that the City Council has approved five years of funding for L.A.'s planning department to revise the city's zoning code, for the first time since 1946.

June 21, 2012 - Curbed LA

The demolition of a Tulsa resident's edible garden, deemed "too tall" by city inspectors, has sparked a civil rights lawsuit, and is generating national attention.

June 21, 2012 - Grist

As yet another deadline for reaching agreement on federal transportation legislation approaches, Ben Goldman takes measure of the ominous signals emanating from negotiators.

June 20, 2012 - Streetsblog D.C.

A bill in California that would reduce parking minimums in transit-oriented areas has drawn opposition from an unlikely group: the American Planning Association.

June 19, 2012 - California Planning & Development Report

Policy Matters looks at a recent article in The Washington Post about Terry Lynch, the city's notorious "pest" who complains about all matters of urban blight, and argues why cities would be better off with more Terrys.

June 19, 2012 - Policy Matters

After a decade overseeing a historic expansion of the city's park system, New York City's longtime parks commissioner Adrian Benepe has announced he's stepping down, reports David W. Chen.

June 18, 2012 - The New York Times