Planning Pool

That’s right — the ever-illusive flying car is back, only this time it’s ready for full deployment in the 4th Quarter this year. Of course, flying cars aren’t a new idea, but they’re apparently gaining steam once again. I chose the following as our weekly video because I’m baffled as to what a person does with a flying car. If you’re looking for a fun and frightening exercise, try to imagine what civilization would look like if we all had our own Terrafugia Transition. Read more…

“Don’t build new residences, only rebuild the old”, argues Liesbeth van der Pol, Chief Government Architect of the Netherlands, who has helped revitalize the nation’s neighbourhoods. Buildings are significant consumers of energy and major contributors to global green-house gas emissions. A panel at Globe 2010 explored how “cities and communities can become more sustainable through better planning, integrated developments, and the design of resource-efficient, high performance buildings.”

Like almost all cities around the world, Amsterdam is struggling with urban sprawl; the city has the same number of residents as 1920s, but the city uses four times more space. van der Pol warns that if this trend continues, there won’t be much interconnected green spaces by 2050. The solution, van der Pol argues, is low rise, high density city buildings, saying that “Europe still has a chance to choose between … Continue Reading

The business community needs to ‘just get on with it’, and not wait for carbon emissions reduction policy and government to catch up, says a panel of international business leaders. This is especially true coming out of the COP15 global climate dialogues in Copenhagen last year, which failed to produce a fair, ambitious and binding agreement. Implications of the uneven and uninspired global regulatory climate for the business community were discussed by a Globe 2010 international panel of business representatives who are demonstrating sustainability leadership.

Panelists agreed that business are the actors who will deliver carbon reductions. Daniel Hendrix, President & CEO of the sustainable carpet company Interface, called out industry as the “one got us into the problem so industry needs to get us out of it.” Hendrix also pointed to the worlds’ top 50 companies as … Continue Reading

CEOs for Cities just released a study showing that homes located close to shops, schools, churches, offices, libraries, parks, and restaurants are worth more than similar homes in less-walkable neighborhoods.

The report, “Walking the Walk: How Walkability Raises Housing Values in U.S. Cities” by Joseph Cortright, analyzed data from 94,000 real estate transactions in 15 major markets. Cortright found that in 13 of the 15 markets, higher levels of walkability, as measured by Walk Score, correlated to higher home values.

The U.S. Congress just put another US$2 billion into the popular Cash for Clunkers program.

The Cars Allowance Rebate System (CARS), which has been dubbed “Cash for Clunkers,” has been so popular in the US that the $1 billion allocated for the program ran out in just a week, three months ahead of schedule. The $2 billion extension will let car owners trade in old fuel-inefficient cars for $3,500 to $4,500 until September 1.

This week, the Transportation Department released data showing that more than 184,000 cars had been traded in, with the Toyota Corolla as the best-selling new car under the clunker program.

Cash for Clunkers requires car dealerships to shred the old, gas-guzzling auto … Continue Reading

Here’s an interesting article by Edward Glaeser and Matthew Kahn, economists well-known in the urban economics and environmental economics fields. They have found that Manhattan residents emit almost 4,500 pounds less of transportation-related carbon dioxide than suburban New York residents, making Manhattan one of the greenest places in America.
The data suggest a strong general pattern: households in dense urban areas have significantly lower carbon emissions than households in the suburbs.
Counter-intuitive, or does this really make sense?

Matthew Kahn also has an informative and interesting blog here. He also just posted a reader’s response to his and Glaeser’s article. The reader pointed out that cities rely heavily on imported goods, especially water, which is unsustainable. If you’re interested in water issues, you might like to check out the post here.

via www.dcexaminer.com >> Opinion.