Monday News Roundup

High-Speed Trains Return to U.S. Fast Track (Wired)
Passenger Rail is becoming a viable option as President Obama calls for heavy investment America's rail infrastructure. Michael Dukakis has been a long time advocate for mass transit + high speed rail; the post includes an interview on Dukakis' thoughts on the future of rail in the US.

Uranium Is So Last Century — Enter Thorium, the New Green Nuke (Wired)
A discussion of the concept of nuclear power without waste or proliferation and the political appeal in the US.

Big City, Small Condos: 'Micro-lofts' to come to Vancouver (The Vancouver Sun)
Reliance Properties Ltd and ITC Construction are behind new mini market rental suites in Vancouver's Downtown East Side. Thirty 270 square foot units will be constructed in a 6-storey heritage building on West Hastings Street.

Axial Mapping (Digital Tectonics)
A short post by a Welsh School of Architecture student who is doing Transport Interchange Modeling. The axial model and isovists grids that he mentions were recently outlined by VIA's Lydia Heard on her city walker blog.

Taking transit saves you LOTS of money! (APTA)
APTA study shows how much.

Architect Barbie in 2010? (Daily Dose of Architecture)
Go vote! (+ empower young women)

New Energy Hubs: Transit-Oriented Development Meets District Energy
(WorldChanging)
TOD meets District Energy: "This is a vision for a New Energy Hubs, a comprehensive community development model that meshes transit-oriented developments (TODs) with emerging energy technologies. Deploying advanced transportation and energy concepts in one geographically defined location provides synergistic benefits, making for the most effective use of energy and resources."

Shape Vancouver 2050
An online survey for shaping the skyline of Vancouver that is fun to complete and shows the connection between density + carbon footprint reduction.

Vancouver 2010 Olympics Free Events Guide (City Caucus)
A site that lists all of the free events during the Olympics. Check out the daily laser show over English Bay that you can contribute to designing.