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.

The final report of the Berkeley Oil Independence Task Force, to be presented to the City Council in May 2009.

As part of recent changes at Post Carbon Institute, I will no longer be posting to this blog. You can find Daniel's new posts in our Commentaries section and at Planetizen.com's Interchange blog.

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.)

To build the resilience of communities against coming changes in global oil supply, urban planners and policymakers will need to turn to more systems-informed approaches to community governance and development.

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.

This report and recommendation were submitted to the City Council of Hamilton, Ontario on November 18, 2008. It details the steps Hamilton has taken to date on the issue of peak oil, and recommends the creation of a volunteer peak oil task force based on the model of Portland, Oregon. The council approved funding for the task force on December 8, 2008.

2008 saw a flurry of new government responses to peak oil, plus groundbreaking legislation in California. Also, the oil price spike, the intensifying global recession, and the historic US presidential election have all helped create a sea change in our thinking about energy and what it means for the economy.

An interview with David MacLeod of Sustainable Bellingham about the formation and goals of the joint Bellingham / Whatcom County Energy Resource Scarcity / Peak Oil task force.

Rutgers University planning school Dean James W. Hughes recently imparted two essential lessons about planning and the economy in the 21st century. First, resource constraints and reduced consumption are the future. And second, distance matters again.