This quote reminded me that the greatest advances against climate change will be made when sustainability is factored into everyday considerations of decision-makers:

‘It can’t be a bolt-on for just one area – everybody’s got to do it. We’ve all got to wear green hats and we’ve all got…

I am tweeting from the Global City conference today in Abu Dhabi.  You can find my comments here.  Theme is the Sustainable City.

I am speaking at the Turning the Tide event today and tomorrow.  Good news is that the proceedings are being offered via a free, live webcast from Fort Baker.  Watch Nobel Laureates, Pulitzer and Goldman Environmental Prize Winners, artists, scientists, CEOs, journalists, educators, and young activists plan action for…

Head over to Economix to find out why Ed Glaeser says we should all live in tall buildings. 

A new report out from SPUR is urging more office development in downtown San Francisco. Quoting from the report...

Downtown San Francisco is the only employment node in the region where most people travel to work without bringing their own car. Downtown San Francisco is the node with…

The New York Times is reporting that President Obama will tell federal regulators Monday to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards.  It's hard to imagine that car…

Here's yet another angle on sustainability.  Two British Columbia architects are proposing that cities go wild.  They propose transforming the modern city into a literal urban jungle. The hypothetical result of their approach is a future city that's not only ecologically self-contained, but also much more exciting to live…

In his State of the City address yesterday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg promised to tamp down the little signs of public disorder:  squeegee men, graffiti, turnstile jumpers.  

"It all begins with public safety, the bedrock of society that makes economic growth possible. Today, according to FBI statistics,…

From new Portland Mayor Sam Adams inaugural remarks:

What a glorious and quirky city we have.  Where else can you buy a donut designed to look like “dirt?”   Or browse one of the world’s largest bookstores and then walk a couple of blocks to the world’s smallest park. There is…

From Sustainable Shelby (Memphis and Shelby County) comes a simple set of criteria for stimulus spending:

Principles:

1. Focus on projects that will spur local job growth by awarding contracts to local and minority owned businesses (multiplier effect).
2. Focus on projects within areas with under utilized infrastructure in order…

A NYT slide show.

Is one more Lowe's worth it?  Miami-Dade commissioners have overridden a veto by Mayor Carlos Alvarez of their decision to ignore the urban development boundary and approve a Lowe's beyond the buffer that stands between developed Dade County and the Everglades.  Now the state has entered the fray,…

Negotiations on the stimulus package continue. While the “Investments” portion of the four-part package (infrastructure) gets smaller, it also seems to be getting narrower.  Included are roads, bridges, schools and water systems.  Transit is currently not favored out of fear that transit projects are not “shovel ready.” There also seems…