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Why 'Protecting' Kids from New Orleans is a bad idea

January 20, 2012 by Next American City
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New Orleans’ Royal Street, where the under-16 crowd can no longer roam late at night. Credit: Flickr user kimncrisThis piece originally appeared on The Lens. When I lived in Europe, I used to josh my British friends with a plan for Britain’s economic future (which looked dim at the time). I suggested that they tear down every structure... [read more]

Defying Criticism, U.K. Government Finalizes Plans for High-Speed Rail

January 18, 2012 by Next American City
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Whatever the recession’s effects on government budgets, infrastructure development in Europe continues to advance at a steady pace. The United Kingdom government affirmed last week that it would move forward with the construction of a £18.8 billion ($29 billion) high-speed link between London and Birmingham, due for opening in 2026. This in spite of draconian cuts across all sorts of public services, both in Britain and across the continent. [read more]

Talking Urbanism Amid a Shortfall of Snow

January 9, 2012 by Chuck Wolfe
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While the Colorado Rockies saw long-awaited snow this weekend, depths remain historically low. Signs caution of “early season” conditions (more typical of November), yet the economic impact is still unclear—resort revenues benefitted from robust holiday traffic through New Year’s Day. [read more]

Reconsidering Shapes of Avoidance on the Landscape

November 28, 2011 by Chuck Wolfe
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Last year, I asked what elements of today’s urban landscape occur in spite of urban land use policy and regulation, and form “shapes of avoidance”. I provided a historical example, and suggested modern counterparts. That was before Occupy Wall Street and its progeny. Nate Berg’s November 22 article in The Atlantic Cities posed... [read more]

SF Launches Green Leasing Toolkit for Commercial Buildings

November 15, 2011 by Stephen Del Percio
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Earlier this year, New York City took an important step towards becoming the country’s leader in public green leasing practices when Mayor Bloomberg’s Green Lease Task Force released model green lease language aimed at addressing the split incentive in most commercial office leases. The language was incorporated with much fanfare by Silverstein Properties into its lease with the law firm WilmerHale at the LEED Gold 7 World Trade Center, as well as adopted by the City for all of its future leases. [read more]

Occupy: The Sky’s the Limit

November 6, 2011 by the polis blog
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Aerial map of Occupy Wall Street from grassrootsmapping.com.

In the United States, the mainstream media seeks to place protest out of sight and out of mind, often reducing serious social movements to nothing more than tentative uprisings. But now, more than 1500 cities and towns worldwide have been "occupied" by a revolutionary urban movement of young people, an “army of love” that cannot be... [read more]

Highlights from the Greenbuild Legal Forum

October 10, 2011 by Chris Cheatham
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This year, the US Green Building Council hosted the 2nd Annual Legal Forum at Greenbuild 2011. The fact that lawyers are now allowed to congregate and make presentations at the Greenbuild conference is an achievement. The green building community seems to understand that green buildings do present new risks that must be managed and attorneys can help. [read more]

Supreme Court Allows Pollution Fees That Regulate Sprawl To Stand

October 7, 2011 by Kaid Benfield
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    The US Supreme Court has decided to let stand a lower court ruling that affirms the right of a California pollution control agency to charge developers fees for building in places that will significantly increase driving and smog-causing emissions. For decades now, local land-use authorities have been charging development... [read more]

Toronto’s Cutting-Edge Approach to Green Roofs

October 6, 2011 by The Dirt ASLA
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New data collected by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities says Toronto’s cutting-edge green roof by-law, which came into effect in January 2010, has resulted in 1.2 million square feet of new green space across commercial, institutional, and residential developments. Toronto’s by-law requires green... [read more]

Oregon's Innovative Online Permitting Saves Time, Money and The Environment

October 6, 2011 by Douglas Reiser
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Now that's pretty. Oregon's new online permitting interface.   Here’s some good news for Oregon contractors:  Electronic Permitting is here. That’s right, no more standing in line with folders full of printed submittals and waiting all day for your permit. The click of a few buttons and you are in business. Great news, right?... [read more]

The Smart Panopticon-opolis

August 22, 2011 by Tony Chavira
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As cities debate the legitimacy of high red-light camera violation fines, it would be best to keep in mind that the more comprehensive our surveillance society becomes, the more stringent the observer-free city will be about laws that technology has been automatically setup to enforce. [read more]

Facebook Foreclosure: Careful Who You Friend!

July 22, 2011 by Maila Klowe
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According to various sources, the online social network Facebook is not all about fun and games anymore. Property owners in default on their mortgage could be served through Facebook. According to Time magazine, the "Facebook foreclosure" is coming soon to a financially discouraged neighborhood near you. Short term installment loans... [read more]