The North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority held a symposium to identify issues as it prepares to write its Regional Transportation Plan for the next 25 years. Among the main messages was that the old assumptions about what parts of the state will grow and where transportation dollars should be spent have been thrown out the window because of the volatile situation with oil prices and supplies.

This week, Architecture 2030 released an unprecedented guide for every city, county and state in the nation to swiftly meet their greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets through existing building codes, asserting that meeting reduction targets through existing codes is the critical ‘missing piece’ to getting major reductions underway immediately.

Vancouver, B.C.'s EcoDensity policies have been the subject of much debate, but they've become a fixture of the city's political and planning landscape, even after the term of the mayor who promoted them.

Developed as a toolkit, "Getting Density Right" was written for land use and design professionals, as well as government officials and community leaders. The book describes the successful methods used in jurisdictions across the country to enact policies, programs, and regulations that support compact development, including codes, zoning, development types, density and design strategies, financial incentives, and planning programs.

Creating what urban planners call '20-minute neighborhoods' was a recurring theme among residents and city officials during the launch of the Portland Plan. Participants focused on the idea of 20-minute neighborhoods, where residents can reach most of their day-to-day needs within a 20-minute walking distance.

This free book from the Environmental Law Institute describes and categorizes three different types of policy strategies for encouraging green building in U.S. cities and counties.

This "Vision Plan for the City of Buenaventura" analyzes probable implications of Peak Oil on the City of San Buenaventura, California, and the surrounding region, and describes a vision for post-Peak Oil planning that responds to these implications by building upon positive trends that are already taking place. This vision is supported by planning and design guidelines, as well as a phased implementation plan. The regional vision emphasizes preservation of natural resources, concentration of the developed footprint, and intra-regional collaboration.

Three reports created by the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home Builders seek to better explain alternative mechanisms that governments can use to finance and manage infrastructure, and offer examples of how these alternatives have been applied successfully by state and local governments.

Created through a collaboration between the UK's Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and the Town and County Planning Association, Climate change adaptation by design outlines how built environment professionals can adapt our towns and cities to the effects of climate change at the conurbation, neighbourhood and building scale.

The 8th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth: Building Safe, Healthy and Livable Communities Conference will be held January 22-24, 2009 at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.