NewsWatch: Sustainable Communities -- FCC Likely to OK Tiered Wireless Pricing, More ...

High-Speed Rail At Stake in November
Whether or not the biggest HSR projects underway -- those in California, Florida, Illinois and Wisconsin -- have a prayer of being completed all depends on who gets elected in November. Infrastructurist

Automated Parking Garage (video)
There is now a solution to the age old problem of never being able to find a space when you go into a car park. Birmingham, England's newest skyscraper, The Cube, has one of the most sophisticated car parks in the world the cars park themselves. BBC

Detroit Gets $47M for Neighborhoods
The City of Detroit  has secured more than $47 million from the federal government to continue efforts to stabilize neighborhoods through demolition, housing rehabilitation and infill homes, city officials said. The city had a Sept. 16 deadline to present a spending plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Even if the city can't immediately spend all the money -- part of the Housing Economic Recovery Act of 2008 -- it had to be designated for use in the next two years or returned. Detroit Free Press

Zero Carbon City in Arabian Desert
Back in 2007, when the government here announced its plan for “the world’s first zero-carbon city” on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, many Westerners dismissed it as a gimmick — a faddish follow-up to neighboring Dubai’s half-mile-high tower in the desert and archipelago of man-made islands in the shape of palm trees. New York Times

Hill Towns Planning Models?
Independent towns and urban neighborhoods alike share an historic affinity for hills. Terrain-intensive cities like San Francisco and Seattle are no exception, and city planning considerations converge around “urban villages” such as Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Capitol Hill and Queen Anne Hill. Places in their own right, these hilltop centers can serve as the partially self-contained models for the compact and dense urban neighborhoods which are increasingly the vanguard of new century urbanism. My Urbanist

FCC Opens Door to 'Super Wi-Fi'
Federal regulators on Thursday approved rules for the use of unlicensed airwaves that could make new Internet service such as "super Wi-Fi" more readily available to consumers and businesses. Unused airwaves, known as "white spaces," are set aside between television channels to prevent interference. The spectrum space is especially valuable because it could be used to create stronger wireless Internet signals that easily pass through walls and travel a longer distance than other unlicensed bands. Los Angeles Times
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FCC Likely to Approve Wireless Tiered Pricing

San Francisco Plan Would Make Cars Last Choice
Cars should take a backseat as the city plans its transportation future, the Municipal Transportation Agency's board agreed Tuesday. At a 3 1/2 hour workshop to informally discuss priorities and the revision of the agency's strategic plan, the agency's Board of Directors supported the vision suggested by Executive Director Nathaniel Ford of transforming the city into a place where driving would be the last choice for people seeking to get around. San Francisco Chronicle

World's Biggest Offshore Wind Farm Goes Live
Today, the UK opens the Thanet Wind Farm, the largest offshore wind farm in the world with 100 turbines spread over 35 kilometres in the North Sea, 7.5 miles off the coast of Foreness Point, Margate. The wind farm will be capable, if winds are high enough, of generating up to 300 megawatts of electricity -- enough to power over 200,000 homes or a small city. Inhabitat