The Sonoran Institute has released a new report on Tucson's role in the Arizona Sun Corridor Megaregion. Tucson's New Prosperity:Capitalizing on the Sun Corridor makes the case that the economic health of Tucson is closely tied to the much larger Sun Corridor economy that is focused in Phoenix, 100 miles to the north. But the report makes clear that Tucson's best strategy is not to compete with Phoenix, but to treat Phoenix as an asset that can be utilized to advance its own economy. In terms of growth and sprawl, Phoenix has won the race. Tucson should compete by establishing its own niche in the economic environment of the Sun Corridor. As a city that is embraced on all sides by national, state, and county parks forests, conservation areas, and monuments, and undeveloped state trust lands, Tucson's great advantages are its spectacular natural environment, opportunities for outdoor recreation and a relaxed desert lifestyle.

Large Landscape Conservation: A Strategic Framework for Policy and Action
"There is general agreement that the promise of large landscape conservation is its focus on land and water problems at an appropriate geographic scale, regardless of political and jurisdictional boundaries. ... Such efforts are multijurisdictional, multipurpose, and multistakeholder, and they operate at various geographic scales using a variety of governance arrangements."

A new policy focus report issued by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy -- an America 2050 partner -- focuses on strategies for regional collaboration to protect large landscapes in the United States.  Like megaregions, large landscapes span political boundaries and require ad-hoc and formal partnerships for their conservation. Regional Plan Association and America 2050 are now engaged in large landscapes work in the Northeast United States, in partnership with the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Lincoln Institute.  Download the Report.

A University of Pennsylvania graduate planning studio released their final report this week, proposing investment in two new dedicated high-speed tracks connecting Boston to Washington. Traveling a new right-of-way in the north end of the Corridor, and involving station relocations and strategic improvements in the south end, the plan would cut travel times in half, achieving 90-minute service from New York to Washington, D.C. and 105 minute service from New York to Boston. The Executive Summary is now available for download. You can download the full report in chapters on the Penn students' website, or the full report as one file here (100MB).

The report was featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer on August 9.

Graduate planning students at Portland State University have released the fourth version of their ongoing study of the Cascadia megaregion with the guidance of instructor Ethan Seltzer of the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning.

This latest iteration, Ecolopolis 4.0, examines the implications for Cascadia of the new federal livability partnership between the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Transportation. This new interest in the role that Federal agencies can and should play in furthering goals for livability and smart growth presents Cascadia and other megaregions an opportunity to articulate their own livability agendas in anticipation of new initiatives emanating from Washington, DC. 

A new article appearing in the September issue of The Urbanist by Petra Todorovich addresses the role of megaregions in a national infrastructure plan and stresses the importance of regional cooperation around issues such as high-speed rail, large scale water infrastructure, and reviving regional economies. The article argues that a national infrastructure strategy that emanates solely from Washington would be deeply unpopular.  However, one that is built on collaboration between states and regions and identifies the needed investments for a more productive economy, healthy environment and inclusive society, is critical to address the country's current and future infrastructure needs. The article cites precedents, both historic and current, of megaregion-scale cooperation to address shared challenges and discusses how this national infrastructure strategy could take shape at the federal level. Click here to read the full article.

The Texas Triangle Megaregion faces many challenges similar to other fast-growing megaregions around the country. Rapid growth in population and diversity is expected in the coming decades that will put increasing pressures on natural resources and infrastructure.

A report released recently by the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture provides an overview of how the region may address these challenges; included is a brief history of the major cities within the megaregion.

To view the full report please click here.

It has been more than fifty years since the signing of the National Interstate and Defense Highway Act, which created a network of highways that tied the nation together. Today, America faces a new set of challenges and is in need of a new vision for our transportation system. Transportation for America, a broad coalition representing a range of local and national interests focused on modernizing the nation's transportation system, released The Route to Reform: Blueprint for a 21st Century Federal Transportation Program, a detailed plan for maintaining and expanding the nations transportation system.
 
In this "Blueprint", the coalition offers four main recommendations for the upcoming transportation authorization bill:

• Develop a New National Transportation Vision with Objectives and Accountability for Meeting Performance Targets.
• Restructure Federal Transportation Programs and Funding to Support the New National Transportation Vision and Objectives.
• Reform Transportation Agencies and the Decision-making Process.
• Revise Transportation Finance So We Can Pay for Needed Investments.

This document serves as T4 America's proposal for the policies and financing structures necessary to achieve real transformational change in America's transportation system
 
Download full blueprint (PDF 4.9MB)
 
Download Executive Summary (PDF 3.1MB)

Veracruz, 261 miles due east of Mexico City, is Mexico's most populous metropolitan region on the Gulf Coast.   It is also where the first confirmed case of the swine flu epidemic occurred.  As the death toll increased and we faced a potential pandemic, the Mexican health system struggled to monitor and contain the spread of the virus, and treat the ill.

Urban challenges such as these are the subject of the timely volume Century of the City - No Time to Lose, recently published by the Rockefeller Foundation, the result of its Global Urban Summit held in July 2007.  The Summit provided a platform for the examination of key infrastructure and planning issues as they relate to the growth of urban regions around the world--including in the United States and the Global South.  Topics covered in Century of the City include Urban Health; Financing Water, Transportation and Shelter; and Climate Change Resilience in the Global South, and America 2050; U.S. Transportation Challenges; and U.S. Metros: Building Blocks of America's Prosperity. 

You may order up to 2 free copies of the book from the Rockefeller Foundation here.