Planning Department

Planning Digest Archive - 2009

skylineThe "Planning Digest" is a selection of weblinks related to sustainable development, published every Tuesday by the Metro Planning Department. 

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October

  • October 27 - Calculate your eco-footprint; how high-speed rail could spread across the USA; why small diesels are hard to find
  • October 20 - Shipping-container houses; more walking, more social interaction; what to do when your community shrinks by half
  • October 6 - A long-term sustainability vision; moving to the country; moving to the city
  • October 13 - A long-term vision; how traffic jams help the environment; living in the "animal wall"

September

  • September 29 - Paper, plastic, or neither; on the way to too far; building great spaces
  • September 22 - Creating lifelong communities in suburbia; getting started in urban gardening; a greener airport in Phoenix
  • September 15 - "Tree-centric" stormwater drains; what is smart growth?; smash your own trash
  • September 9 - Avoiding "energy sprawl"; turning off signal lights in London; the National Green Values Calculator
  • September 1 - Green, but not necessarily efficient; "farming" by remote control; a local bike shop helps young people learn

August

  • August 25 Reasons to drive less; reasons to walk more; living bridges
  • August 18 Improving smart growth; "zombie highways"; staying off the housing ladder
  • August 11 Smaller living spaces; are you driving a clunker?; you could call it an "ex-box"
  • August 4 - Metro Stormwater's low-impact development page; "The ruins of the unsustainable"; white roofs

July

  • July 28 - Saving fuel by parking clunkers; "the earth is not a trash can"; the true cost of transit
  • July 21 - New support for passenger and commuter rail; if you want change, stop complaining; increased energy efficiency in commercial buildings
  • July 14 - New lives for old buildings; laundry to landscape; changing the suburbs
  • July 7 - When you shouldn't recycle plastic; cycling in the Rust Belt; the opposite of NIMBY

June

  • June 30 - Is it really green?; safer, narrower streets; lost railroad stations
  • June 23 - Don't try to walk here; downsizing a shrinking city; farming without fossil fuel
  • June 16 - Mandatory composting in San Francisco; greener blacktop; the USA's angriest drivers
  • June 9 - Could the auto industry make railcars?; design your own shelter; toxic litter you might not expect
  • June 2 - Climate-positive cities; waiting on a train; rural gentrification

May

  • May 26 - A rowhouse revival; a "framework and playbook" for urban streets; redeveloping closed car lots
  • May 19 - Green DIY; 235 miles to the gallon; potato-based cutlery
  • May 12 - A suburb (almost) without cars; unusual bus stops; dialogue in a box
  • May 5 - Seeing smart growth; charging electric cars by subscription; green eating

April

  • April 28 - The German approach to transportation; how much is left?; hundreds of little helpers
  • April 21 - Greener houses, like it or not; rain garden resources; not exactly Memphis
  • April 14 - Locally-grown school lunches; smart growth in Germantown; building neighborhoods
  • April 7 - Possibly the world's least sustainable city; cul-de-sac communes; keeping track of your power use

March

  • March 31 - "Vampire" power; urban gardening; cities the way they used to be
  • March 24 - The "Miracle Mets"; carbon-neutral by 2010; eternal rest in the parking lot
  • March 17 - How walkable is your neighborhood?; locally grown food; getting rid of your old TV
  • March 10 - A new tool every day; city cycling safety; revitalizing the post-WWII suburbs
  • March 3 - Effects of LED lights; funding for high-speed rail; America's most congested cities

February

  • February 24 - New support for high-speed rail; city living to preserve nature; colleges' wind-power competition
  • February 17 - "How the Crash will Reshape America"; our most abandoned cities; greener racing cars
  • February 10 - Ten trends which shape our communities; older streets are safer streets; reusing developed land
  • February 3 - Green cars; the environmental effects of bad driving

January

  • January 6 - Transit issues in DC and Sydney; the rewards of living in a "passive house"
  • January 13 - New life for traditional suburbs; understanding the SmartCode
  • January 20 - DIY bike lanes; bike-friendlier streets in Miami; green advice for President Obama
  • January 27 - Transit could help Pittsburgh revive blighted areas; reassessing traditional suburbs; a Washington/Chicago design connection

2008 Archive