Fifty students in Washington state presented visions of urban design and innovative technology at the Future City Competition at Seattle Center Saturday. The Seattle Times.

Mitch Landrieu points to the relatively low jobless rate in New Orleans as a sign that infrastructure investment spending is a force for job creation. The Times-Picayune

Since the mid-1990s, economic growth has outpaced the growth of driving (vehicle miles traveled), according to the Center for Clean Air Policy. The New York Times.

The El Paso City Council has unanimously approved a plan called “Connecting El Paso,” which would focus on transit-oriented development, bus rapid transit and downtown revitalization. Switchboard / NRDC

Ellen Dunham-Jones, co-author of “Retrofitting Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs,” says that failed suburban shopping malls could be transformed into mini urban centers serving elderly suburbanites who want to age in place. The New York Times