Victoria councillors have approved changes to the municipality's zoning bylaw to include urban agriculture as an allowable home occupation for up to two people living in a house.

A new study finds that 65% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. are under the direct or indirect control of individuals. However, many of those habits are difficult to change given land uses. Individuals may need incentives to adopt lower-impact lifestyles.

Senate Bill 375 will push California communities to consider climate change impacts of development in regional planning, with an emphasis on reducing car travel. The bill requires the California Air Resources Board to set regional targets by September 2010 for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. The state will use its annual $5 billion pot of transportation money to encourage regions to embrace compact residential development.

As energy technologies evolve, their relationship to their surroundings also changes. Recently, attention has shifted to decentralized supplies and the effects of transportation, land use, and buildings on energy demand. It is time for planners to pay attention to the new spatial structure of energy systems. This article lays out some approaches planners could use to be more effective.

Why should planners care about the food system in their area? How can planners help shape a healthy food system? This guide sets forth a vision for an urban food system and describes the interlocking aspects of planning and the food system.

A panel of national and state experts focused on the role of transportation in a future marked by steeply rising energy costs, global warming and economic uncertainties at a "Transportation 2035" symposium on June 26, sponsored by the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA). Daniel Lerch was among the panel speakers.

After decades of migration to ever-further-out suburbs, high gas prices are spurring a rethink of homebuying priorities and policies that subsidize sprawl.

Schools are starting to encourage students to use other, human-powered modes to get to and from school. The many benefits of this development may seem clear, but what does it mean for, say, school buses? Does a movement toward walking and cycling really pose a challenge to the yellow icon of our school system?

The Housing + Transportation Affordability Index, developed by CNT and its collaborative partners, the Center for Transit Oriented Development (CTOD), is an innovative tool that measures the true affordability of housing. Planners, lenders, and most consumers traditionally measure housing affordability as 30 percent or less of income. The Housing + Transportation Affordability Index, in contrast, takes into account not just the cost of housing, but also the intrinsic value of place, as quantified through transportation costs. Click here to explore how this looks in 52 metropolitan areas in the US.

The "walk score" uses the proximity of various businesses - grocery stores, drug stores, movie theaters - to calculate the walkability of neighborhoods. Allows visualization of this aspect of accessibility and may help diagnose what works to promote this kind of development.