The New York Times' "Green Inc." blog explores reactions to a previous article on the Vauban car-free development in Freiburg, Germany. Post Carbon Cities author Daniel Lerch is quoted in this article.

Smaller cities have a distinctive and vital role to play in the work of the new century: they will be critical in the move to local agriculture and the development of renewable energy industries. Their underused or vacant industrial space and surrounding tracts of farmland make them ideal sites for sustainable land-use policies, or "smart growth." (This article quotes Post Carbon Cities author Daniel Lerch.)

As of 10 January 2009 we are no longer collecting news articles on the Post Carbon Cities website. When we started this service two years ago, news and information on city responses to energy and climate uncertainty was hard to come by. Climate change and fossil fuel depletion have since become widely recognized concerns among local decision-makers and planners, so the time has come to shift our efforts elsewhere.

Sydney's plans for future development are in the direction of dense, transit-accessible neighborhoods instead of traditional sprawling suburbs. This development pattern is expected to save the city hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure, transport, health and greenhouse gases.

The MTA's new report, "Sustainability and the MTA," outlines a transit program for the New York metro region that could well be applied to other metro regions.

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, unveiled proposals to set up a "retrofitting academy" to train an army of energy advisers as he aired his ambitions to place the city at the forefront of green industry. Johnson also vowed to push ahead with the retrofitting of buildings in London that in one way or another reside in the public sector – believed to be around 25% of all buildings in the capital.

A report compiled by Helena officials and the city's Climate Change Task Force shows that the Capital City's government reduced its energy usage between 2001 and 2007 by 22.1 percent and its carbon dioxide emissions by 18.1 percent. City officials knew the energy-saving changes they'd made in those years - everything from using more efficient light bulbs to installing smarter temperature controls - would make a dent in Helena's energy usage, but they were surprised to learn they'd outpaced the Kyoto Protocol's 20-year goals in less than a third of the time.

The rise of freak weather storms as a result of global warming means that New Brunswickers should add extra water and supplies to their emergency stockpile, according to the director of the provincial Emergency Measures Organization.

“We have to address peak oil,” said Vancouver, B.C. Mayor Gregor Robertson. “I think we underestimate this at our peril right now, and it needs to be factored in with the decisions we are making this term for sure.” The Mayor and councillor Andrea Reimer want to see the city prepared, and may seek the creation of a task force.

San Francisco's Bay Conservation and Development Commission is preparing to launch a $125,000 competition that will invite architects, planners and engineers to bring innovative proposals "to climate-proof the Bay Area," in the words of the competition outline. There is hope that some of the designs produced may be useful to other communities in similar situations.

Among other "green" initiatives being unveiled by Detroit's mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr. are a few standouts, in terms of energy policy. He's creating an Office of Energy and Sustainability within the mayor's office, and a "Green Council" of representatives from city agencies to find ways to improve energy use in city buildings.

Changes in Portland, Ore. bureaus by mayor-elect Sam Adams reflect a commitment to sustainability as a guiding principle in planning decisions, not an add-on. Earlier this week, his office announced that the city's Office of Sustainable Development (created in 2000) would merge with the Bureau of Planning to form the Bureau of Sustainable Planning & Development.

Canada's government was warned nearly two years ago by its own experts that climate change was threatening critical infrastructure across the country, putting public health and the economy in jeopardy, according to memoranda released recently. Water systems were noted as particularly at risk.

Fatih Birol, chief economist to the International Energy Agency, told the Guardian that conventional crude output could plateau in 2020, a development that was "not good news" for a world still heavily dependent on petroleum.

Oil production could peak by 2010. What does that mean for your community? An article by Daniel Lerch, featured in the December 2008 issue of Planning magazine.

The coastal Oregon town of Lincoln City aims to be first in the state to achieve "carbon neutrality" through green energy, efficiency, collaboration with a carbon co-op, and other measures. Their motive is ever-present: the Pacific Ocean, which will rise with global warming. (Daniel Lerch is quoted in this article.)

Although fuel prices have gone back down after this year's peak, many working families will still have a challenge heating their homes due to recession-related financial difficulties. The money available to help heat the homes of low-income Maryland families has more than tripled from a winter ago, going from $35 million to $110 million. “Maryland’s working families are the cornerstone of our economy, but are also the most significantly impacted.”

The City Council of Hamilton, Ontario approved $35,000 for the creation of a Community Energy Collaborative to explore the city's energy supply vulnerabilities. The task force will look at economic, social and environmental sustainability and urban planning.

The City of El Paso is entering into a collaboration that will save the city $1.7 million each year in energy. They frame it as the a step toward a green collar economy as well as a way to address climate change.

A non-profit serving low income people in coastal Washington has received grants and the necessary permits to build a wind farm, and will be selling the energy to the local public utility district. The income will help fund the organization's social service mission. According to the organization's executive director, "this project is the first of its kind in the nation to use alternative energy to benefit low income housing."

A consortium of businesses, the city-owned utility and environmentalists said Wednesday they plan to make Austin’s power grid a model of “green” energy and a test bed for new and emerging technologies. They hope startup and established companies will come to Austin to develop technologies that will eventually be used in other cities to modernize the electric grid.

As the closest government level to citizens, municipal leaders can accelerate behavioural change within their community and can drive and implement effective actions. Local governments will offer national governments their partnership to limit global warming when nations gather at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland on 1-12 December 2008 to negotiate a new global climate agreement.

Fazilka, a small township in Punjab near the India-Pakistan border, has become the first ever place in the country to implement a "Car Free City" in the region, declaring the central city a car-free zone.

Boris Johnson, the London mayor, is basing the new program on a successful one in the metropolitan area of Kirklees. Insulating the lofts [atttics] of London homes will save residents money and help propel the city toward its goal of cutting its carbon emissions by 60% by 2025.

Los Angeles mayor Villaraigosa's proposal aims to have solar power meet one-tenth of L.A.'s energy needs by 2020. The move is meant to help L.A.'s Department of Water and Power (the largest municipal utility in the U.S.) wean itself off of fossil fuels as part of the effort to address global warming.