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Headline	Author	Published	Section
If You Build It, They May Not Come Maldives builds higher-altitude island, can't attract residents		11 Jan 2008	News
Posted at 3:44 PM on 11 Jan 2008 The tiny island nation of Maldives is at high risk of being swamped in years to come: it rises a mere three feet above sea level. So officials are building Hulhumalé, a human-made island with an altitude of more than six feet, capable of housing as many as 150,000 of the nation's 369,000 inhabitants. There's only one problem: Very few people want to move there. In ...
Topics: climate, climate change adaptation, Maldives, news, placemaking (all these topics)

Not in a Bind Mayoral climate-protecting agreement hasn't necessarily translated into action		11 Jan 2008	News
Posted at 12:44 PM on 11 Jan 2008 Mayors across the country have signed onto the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, a nonbinding initiative encouraging city leaders to meet or beat the greenhouse-gas reductions outlined in the U.S.-shunned Kyoto Protocol. So about that nonbinding part: While some city officials have taken concrete steps to reduce emissions, others haven't followed through at all. ...
Topics: climate, climate change mitigation, greenhouse-gas emissions, local politics, news, placemaking, politics (all these topics)

Sub Woofer Iditarod sled dog race forced to change starting point		10 Jan 2008	News
Posted at 2:47 PM on 10 Jan 2008 The famous Iditarod sled dog race is undergoing permanent changes as organizers cope with urban sprawl and a warming climate. For the ceremonial start to the competition on Mar. 1, racers will travel 11 miles instead of the traditional 18 miles. The race itself will kick off Mar. 2 from Willow, Alaska, 30 miles north of the traditional starting town of Wasilla. Says Stan Hooley of the Iditarod Tra ...
Topics: Alaska, climate, climate change impacts, news, placemaking, sports, sprawl (all these topics)

Tiny Tata Tata Motors unveils world's cheapest car in India		10 Jan 2008	News
Posted at 10:16 AM on 10 Jan 2008 Photo: TaTa Motors The world's cheapest car was unveiled in India today by Tata Motors, which hopes that its new $2,500 subcompact will help make car ownership a reality for tens of millions of people. The Tata Nano gets respectable gas mileage, up to 58.8 miles per gallon, and meets India's emissions standards, but its introduction was met by protests from greens fearful that more-accessible autos will ...
Topics: business, cars, India, news, placemaking (all these topics)

With Apologies to Billy Joel General Motors unveils hydrogen-powered concept Cadillac		09 Jan 2008	News
Posted at 10:03 AM on 09 Jan 2008 Trading in your Chevy for a Cadillac-ac-ac-ac-ac-ac? You oughta know by now: at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, General Motors unveiled a concept Caddy powered by a combination of hydrogen fuel cells and battery power. Following the rule that all green car technology must have an insipid name, the new Cadillac Provoq (sigh) is designed to travel some 300 mil ...
Topics: Big Auto, cars, hydrogen, news, placemaking (all these topics)

If I Had Five Million Dollars Connecticut will require expensive structures to be built green		07 Jan 2008	News
Posted at 9:47 AM on 07 Jan 2008 Connecticut has introduced new green-building regulations -- that apply to public and private construction projects costing $5 million or more. And that, children, is what we call "playing to stereotype." From the Archives Vex and the Single Hull. South Korea to outlaw single-hulled oil tankers in 2011. I Want a Little Sugar in My Bow ...
Topics: Connecticut, green building, news, placemaking (all these topics)

Look, Ma, no brakes Cures for congestion can come cheap	Eric de Place	04 Jan 2008	Gristmill
When I was a little kid, I remember being stuck in gridlock on I-5. (Seattle had congested freeways even back in the 1970s, shocking as that sounds.) And I remember being perplexed that all the cars would slow down in heavy traffic. Instead of spacing out so far, I wondered, why couldn't they all just maintain 55 miles per hour and drive inches apart. As long as everyone agreed to drive the same speed and not hit the brakes, heavy traffic wouldn't require us to slow ...
Topics: cars, placemaking (all these topics)

Better Truck Next Year Analysts predict slow auto sales in 2008		04 Jan 2008	News
Posted at 4:45 PM on 04 Jan 2008 The U.S. saw a December slump in vehicle sales, and analysts predict that 2008 may be the weakest year for auto sales in the U.S. in at least a decade. (Will it correspond with a boost in public-transportation ridership? Probably not, but we can dream.) Sales of pickups, generally a sure bet in the U.S. market, hit the wall last year; the pickup slump helped bump Ford Motors down to the No. 3 highes ...
Topics: Big Auto, business, cars, news, placemaking (all these topics)

Monstrosity or innovation? World's largest building approved in Moscow	Katharine Wroth	03 Jan 2008	Gristmill
Catching up on some late-December news (how dare the world keep spinning during vacation?): The city of Moscow approved plans for Crystal Island, a 27-million-square-foot complex designed by the fellow behind London's notorious Gherkin. Set to include 3,000 hotel rooms, 900 apartments, an international school for 500 students, theaters, offices, and stores, the gargantuan development is, said architect Norman Foster in a company press release, 'a paradigm of compact, ...
Topics: urban planning, Russia, green building, placemaking (all these topics)

Green building is the new black Rising hopes for 2008	Katharine Wroth	03 Jan 2008	Gristmill
Remember how, way back in 2007, green was the new black? Watch for a new new black in 2008: green building. The press is gushing with green-building news: According to a report from the American Institute of Architects, the number of cities with green-building programs has increased 418 percent since 2003, and AIA -- which has issued a list of 50 strategies for reducing buildings' fossil-fuel consumption 50 percent by 2010 -- says more cities are on track to ...
Topics: green building, placemaking, urban planning (all these topics)

The Italian Job Milan, Italy, institutes congestion charge		03 Jan 2008	News
Posted at 12:39 PM on 03 Jan 2008 In Milan, congestion pricing is the new black. (Oh, like you have a better fashion pun?) Under Milan's new plan, which kicks off as a one-year trial, vehicles driving into the urban center on weekdays between 7:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. must pay up to $14 per day; low-polluting cars are exempt from the charge. Milan has the third-highest number of cars per capita in Europe, and some 89,000 cars enter the cit ...
Topics: Italy, news, placemaking, urban planning (all these topics)

Scooter planet As personal transportation becomes cheaper, the poor benefit and the climate suffers	Adam Stein	29 Dec 2007	Gristmill
In an interesting bit of synchronicity, the Times ran two nearly identical articles on the rocketing popularity of motor scooters in the developing world, one focusing on Iraq, the other on Laos. Although neither article mentions global warming, the pieces do neatly wind together some of the threads that will continue to pressure our climate system well into this century. The first thread is the rise of China as the world's factory floor. In this case, cheap Chinese bi ...
Topics: China, placemaking (all these topics)

The greening of Greensburg How one small town in Kansas is turning disaster into progress	Maywa Montenegro	28 Dec 2007	Gristmill
There wasn't much to be happy about on today's media spectrum. So I thought I'd share one heartwarming story about one Kansas town's efforts to pick up the pieces after a devastating tornado:Townhomes are beginning to rise from the ragged tree trunks, weeds and ruins off Main Street. They mark a radical departure from traditional low-income housing, according to Duncan Trahl, who is from Pennsylvania and on contract with the National Renewable Energy Labs.The to ...
Topics: green building, Kansas, placemaking, urban planning (all these topics)

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh Bye Humans have intruded on large-mammal habitat, says study		27 Dec 2007	News
Posted at 4:57 PM on 27 Dec 2007 Humans have driven out large mammals in, um, droves, says a new study in the Journal of Mammalogy. Since the year 1500, at least 35 percent of mammals weighing over 44 pounds have seen their range cut by more than half, thanks to humans moving on in. Well gee, maybe if the animals had brought over a welcome basket we would have been more neighborly. source: BBC News < ...
Topics: biodiversity, news, placemaking, sprawl, wildlife (all these topics)

Building Anticipation Portland, Ore., green-building plan will be delayed		27 Dec 2007	News
Posted at 1:17 PM on 27 Dec 2007 Portland, Ore., proposed an ambitious green-building plan last month that was to go before voters in January. But the building and real-estate industries were taken aback by the announcement and have expressed concerns; City Commissioner Dan Saltzman now hopes to have a draft before the city council in three to six months. source: The Oregonian From the Archives ...
Topics: green building, news, placemaking, Portland (all these topics)

Count Your Blessing The depth of the Mississippi River's influence, in numbers		20 Dec 2007	Grist Feature
Fifty-eight semi-truck trailer loads traveling over 9 feet of water. Photo: Sarah van Schagen 10 -- states that border the Mississippi River 31 -- states drained by the Mississippi River watershed 1 2 -- Canadian provinces drained by the Mississippi River watershed 1 50 -- cities that rely on the river for their water supply 1 40 -- percentage of U.S. that's part of the Mississippi River basin 1 2,300 -- l ...
Topics: Mississippi River, placemaking (all these topics)

Balkin' in Memphis The riverfront in Memphis needs help -- but what kind?	Katharine Wroth	20 Dec 2007	Grist Feature
May God bless Memphis, the noblest city on the face of the earth. -- Mark Twain To visit Memphis, Tenn., is to visit a place that is slowly waking from a decades-long stupor. The things that define this city in the popular imagination -- the glamorous life of Elvis Presley, the shocking assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. -- happened decades ago. Some of the young professionals the city ...
Topics: Mississippi River, placemaking, Tennessee, urban planning (all these topics)

Gateway to Heaven St. Louisans turn a working river into a river that works for them	Sarah van Schagen	20 Dec 2007	Grist Feature
"The fifth night we passed St. Louis, and it was like the whole world lit up." -- Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn As the sun rises over the city of St. Louis, an arch-shaped shadow moves eastward over the city's bustling downtown and toward the Mississippi River, where it will leave its invisible mark until early evening. The 630-foot steel structur ...
Topics: Mississippi River, placemaking, urban planning (all these topics)

Dubuque's Not Bluffing An Iowa river town develops a real relationship with the Mississippi	Sarah van Schagen	20 Dec 2007	Grist Feature
"The care of rivers is not a question of rivers, but of the human heart." -- Tanaka Shozo Arriving in Dubuque, Iowa, is a bit disorienting. After passing acres and acres of the heartland's flat soybean and cornfields, you suddenly come upon a small city (pop. 60,000) with a surprising landscape. Gazing east to west, you see the muddy Mississippi meandering sou ...
Topics: Iowa, Mississippi River, placemaking, urban planning (all these topics)

Mississippi Keen Three river cities reimagine their waterfronts, and themselves	Katharine Wroth	20 Dec 2007	Grist Feature
It was dark when we first crossed the Mississippi, and we caught only a glimpse of its swirling mass beneath us. The next day was gray and windy, and the dark mass had turned into a steely, uninviting barrier. The day after that was cloudless and blue -- and the suddenly friendly river was too. Sarah van Schagen and I had only just begun our weeklong reporting trip, but already we'd ...
Topics: grassroots activism, Mississippi River, placemaking, politics, urban planning (all these topics)

Banking On Change Up and down the Mississippi, communities are reinventing their riverfronts	Sarah van Schagen, Katharine Wroth	20 Dec 2007	Grist Feature
By Sarah van Schagen and Katharine Wroth 20 Dec 2007 Gone are the days when the Mississippi River was just a shipping route and flood risk that happened to run through a city's back yard. Increasingly, the legendary waterway is becoming recognized as a prized attraction, worthy of front-yard status. Here's how a few communities are drawing attention to a natural feature they once shunned. View Larger Map ...
Topics: Mississippi River, placemaking, urban planning (all these topics)

So MINI to Choose From Hybrid Technologies converts gas-powered cars to electric		18 Dec 2007	News
Posted at 4:09 PM on 18 Dec 2007 Obsessed with MINI Coopers but also like the idea of zero-emission electric vehicles? Have your car and drive it too: a company called Hybrid Technologies guts cars such as the MINI, smart fortwo, and PT Cruiser, and replaces their gas tanks with an electric motor and a stack of lithium batteries. Convinced? Starting in 2008, you'll be able to buy your electric MINI at Wal-Mart -- f ...
Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, greenish companies, news, placemaking, Wal-Mart (all these topics)

The next blight	David Roberts	17 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Via Atrios, a preview of things to come: empty retail space in the 'burbs. How long can something stay empty and still retain that clean, sterile look the 'burbs are known for? How long until blight sets in?
Topics: placemaking, sprawl (all these topics)

Financing green building and retrofits A public policy silver bullet that's available to fight global warming today	David Roberts	17 Dec 2007	Gristmill
Steve Heckeroth's piece "Solar is the solution" has been recommended all over the green blogosphere, first by Robert Rapier, I think. It's great reading, but I wanted to hone in on one thing he mentions -- a piece of public policy that has been woefully under-hyped. To wit: with today's technology, we know how to make new buildings net energy generators, and we know how to retrofit existing buildings to reduce their energy consumption by well over 50%, in s ...
Topics: green building, placemaking, energy (all these topics)

You'll Love It at Levittown Levittown, N.Y., aims to be first green suburb		17 Dec 2007	News
Posted at 1:49 PM on 17 Dec 2007 Think the phrase "green suburb" is an oxymoron? Levittown, N.Y., begs to differ. From the Archives Did You Want Rise With That? Sea-level rise this century could be twice IPCC's predictions, says research. What a Serve! House of Representatives' food service goes sustainable. O Me! O Life! Of the Questions of These Recurring. Synthetic DNA could soon yi ...
Topics: New York, news, placemaking, sprawl (all these topics)

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