Livable Berkeley Newswire

The costly permit process for prospective businesses works against small, local businesses owners.

How the work of former Mayor of Bogota, Enrique Penalosa, emphasizes the importance of happiness in cities.

California Senate Bill 518 would incentivize cities to start reforming their parking rules.

Can a task force on urban shadows in San Francisco approach urban design in a way that embraces the complexity of the times in which we live?

Walter Hood fuses ecological symbolism and smart urbanism for a Center Street Plaza. He understands that a seductive urban space can be a catalyst that makes the future come alive.

At the New Partners for Smart Growth conference in Seattle, department heads for the EPA, DOT and HUD spoke about their coordinated efforts to support and fund smart growth development.

Mortgage lenders should consider transportation costs associated with living in a particular area when evaluating whether to issue loans to home buyers.

Berkeley is 45th on the list of low-car cities in the U.S..

Inspired by the success of New York City's High Line, UCB architecture students look at re-use potential for the eastern span of the Bay Bridge.

Walkability is gaining ground in the determination of housing values.

BRT in Oakland could create the longest "complete street" in California with 17 miles of dedicated bike and bus lanes and pedestrian improvements.

The Bay Area Air Quality District's greenhouse gas emission guidelines could increase the cost to build in cities where carbon footprints are inherently smaller.

A UC Berkeley study says that parking needs at transit-oriented developments in the Bay Area and Portland exceed peak demand by 25-30% on average.

The future of smart growth discussed with one of the founders of New Urbanism. 

Most of the hard work building a low-carbon economy and lifestyle is going to be done in local communities - more than ever, acting globally means acting locally.

Start with these eight sets of questions about your city to build your own vision of the future.

How Strasbourg gave up the car, and mid-sized American cities can, too.

The Toyo Ito museum designed for UC Berkeley won't be built, but the un-built project represents a new connection between town and gown.

SB375, California's groundbreaking law to promote more convenient walkable neighborhoods with more transportation choices, has the power to act as an economic driver.

A reversal of the ill effects of sprawl will take committed local officials who are willing to change land use policy and zoning even in the face of resistance.

A shortage of funds has prompted UC Berkeley to abandon its plan to construct a new Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive downtown

GPS devices would track VMT and drivers would be billed based on miles driven.

In Stockholm, Sweden, a new 'Yes in My Backyard' group is celebrating urban growth.

West Berkeley activists oppose the Mayor's "Green Corridor" Vision.

Officials in Oakland, CA are pioneering a new method of measuring the health impact of development, going beyond EIRs to get a more fully-fleshed assessment.

Biden's program, known as Recovery Through Retrofit, is modeled on Berkeley's solar financing plan.

The new natural unit of civic change, especially in America in the 2010s, is going to be the city.

Walkability adds value to nearby properties and attracts investment.

Berkeley High School was one of five schools in the state selected for a program to prepare students for green jobs.

To boost urban bicycling, figure out what women want.

The California Attorney General is challenging Pleasanton's cap on new housing.

The average New Yorker generates fewer greenhouse gases annually than residents of any other American city, and less than 30 percent of the national average.

From the increase of city living to the decrease in vehicle miles traveled, a "new American Dream" is developing.

A revival of small, neighborhood retailers could be an important strategy for countering climate change, enticing people to run errands without driving their cars.

Opponents of Berkeley's groundbreaking plan for a dense urban center are attempting to fool voters into putting the issue on the ballot.

A report released by federal agencies and environment and industry groups found transportation emissions could be reduced 24 percent by 2050 by acting to change travel behavior and land-use patterns.

Vancouver has made a rapid transition to a green city.

As both Berkeley and Oakland debate their downtown plans, there is growing recognition that the fight against global warming requires greater urban density.

New York's famous Times Square has become more pedestrian-friendly, with city officials banning cars from stretches of Broadway.

Now may be a great time to use innovative methods for funding development around transit. Portland and Denver are just two communities that have seen property values rise around rail.

The 17th Street project is the first of San Francisco's "pavement-to-parks program" in which the traditional use of streets to carry cars is being rethought.

BART has plans to spend $3.4 billion on 700 new cars that will replace the current 669 and will carry more people, move passengers through stations faster, and meet the needs of suburban and urban riders.

The League of American Bicyclists has released their Spring 2009 list of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the U.S.

Pricing road use by vehicle miles traveled (VMT) with higher fees for using congested roads could reduce travel time, claim researchers at Brookings.

San Franciscans will soon be able to track their personal and neighborhood carbon footprint.

Controversial express toll lanes added to the plan.

You can take the train to work, but your office is still a mile away from the station. How we can solve the last-mile problem.

Proof that buses can solve most of our mass transit problems.

Only 21 percent of employees in the top 98 metro areas work within three miles of downtown.

Streets must be more than a place for private automobiles. View before and after graphic...

The country has fallen on hard times, but those of us who love cities know we have been living in the dark ages for a while now.

A bus route with a driver but no vehicle takes children to school in an Italian town.

A new report finds that greenhouse gas emissions of large cities are far below those of rural areas.

Amsterdam is leading the green city movement.

Municipal financing is creating a solar boom throughout California.

Places that serve everyone in the community are more important now.

Cities need to start analyzing sustainability initiatives to test not for good intentions, but for impact.

Not since before the Interstate highway system was built in 1956 have so many people used public transit.

State Senator Lowenthal (D- Long Beach) proposes parking reform to reduce statewide Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT).

San Francisco lagged the region's suburbs in job growth over the last three decades, forcing increasing numbers of commuters to pack highways instead of public transportation.

What's been accomplished is heroic, especially for the Bay Area.

Making Vancouver an "Inclusive City" through ethical architecture.

Do you really want to be good to the environment? Move to high-rise apartments surrounded by plenty of concrete.

'Keeping up with the neighbors' as an energy conservation strategy.

Peter Calthorpe notes 3 areas that need smart investment to make the American Dream sustainable: urban transit, environment, and multi-family housing.

Energy Secretary Steve Chu delivers a grim warning for California: Slow the pace of climate change or the state will lose its agriculture and cities

Urban travel is slow and inefficient, in part because people act in self-interested ways.

Dollars spent that get Americans out of cars will ease traffic, save money, reduce pollution, slow global warming and make us less vulnerable to volatile oil oligarchs...

President Barack Obama took aim Monday at the lofty but long elusive goal of making the nation more energy independent...

Planning and environmental groups are heralding the passage of legislation designed to address global warming by curbing suburban sprawl...

San Francisco's MUNI has approved a pilot program to price 6,000 of the city's parking spots according to popularity.

California's commitement to reducing greenhouse gases plus plunging gasoline prices could present the State with an opportunity to address its budget deficit.

San Francisco Bay Area cities promised to build the electric car capital of the United States, announcing a plan to work with start-up Better Place to put battery-powered autos on the road in 2012.

In increasingly green-conscious Europe, there are said to be only two kinds of mayors: those who have a bicycle-sharing program and those who want one.

"What impact will an Obama presidency have on urban policy?"

While home values in the rest of the region decline, homes near Denver's light rail system have experienced an increase in values over the past two years.

With gas prices through the roof, our car-crazy nation showed the love for buses and trains.

The California Air Resources Board released its latest plan to meet AB32 greenhouse gas reduction targets...

The Berkeley City Council moved late Tuesday to eliminate one of the biggest obstacles to making homes more energy-efficient: the upfront cost.

A new study confirms that the more bicyclists on the road, the less likely it is that cyclists will get hit by a vehicle.

CA is close to adopting a law to slow the increase in emissions of GHGs by encouraging housing close to job sites, rail lines and bus stops...

SmartBike DC will rent 120 bikes at 10 self-service racks mostly in the downtown area.

Google Maps now providing walking directions.

Environmentalists, builders and local governments agree on legislation that would pull state money from projects that contribute to sprawl.

MIT scientists discover how to store solar energy

If you plan for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic. If you plan for people and places, you get people and places.

A Half-Century History of U.S. Transit Funding.

A vision and a plan to generate electricity entirely through renewable sources by 2018.

San Francisco rates higher than New York and Boston for walkability - larger Bay Area doesn't score as well.

Great cities don't just happen - bold efforts in Indianapolis, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Bogota and Zurich profiled.

Cleveland’s Health Line is setting a national example for Bus Rapid Transit.

Paris Mayor proposes abandoning the city's long-held building height limit, citing the city's need to grow.

Take a look at the Housing & Transportation Affordability Index for the U.S. -  if you want to go low-carbon, the city is where it's at.

The Bay Area's environmental agenda is being redefined by the very real threat of climate change.

Six miles, six hours, zero traffic...

The California Air Resources Board unveiled their plan to fight global warming and it encourages local governments to create land-use and transportation plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

A structural change is under way in the housing market -  its ultimate impact on the suburbs, and the cities, will be profound.

Ranking highest are cities with strong public transit system ridership and well-organized and dense city centers.

Begun by a mom in California just a few short years ago, Cool the Earth is  encouraging school kids to go home and take action to “Cancel a Car”.

Montreal's new public bike sharing system relies on a new bike design, solar powered stations, wireless inventory management, and software to manage it all.

How would I get from San Francisco to Berkeley after BART closes...

With the price of gas approaching $4 a gallon, more commuters are abandoning their cars and taking the train or bus instead.

The truest true fact of American politics is that no candidate running this year is going to upset or even challenge the suburban sprawl industry.

The worldwide issue of climate change has a local twist: It's altering the Bay Area's long-running debate over how and where to grow.

Where does the future of L.A. transportation lie -- light rail, subway, more freeways, smart growth, toll roads or something else?

The focus on greening homes and offices is ignoring the wider landscape of our towns and cities...

The EcoCity World Summit wrapped up on Saturday afternoon in San Francisco...

OK, so everybody’s bought into the idea that Sacramento’s Blueprint process is a national model of regional smart growth planning. But what happens
next in this cooler-than-we-ever-imagined metropolis? Depending on who
you talk to the answer is: