Two links to check out

Edward Glaeser on the "The death of distance and the rise of cities". In this audio lecture, Glaeser discusses regional policy and declining cities, urban sprawl, urban environment and gas emissions, density, affordable housing and other intriguing topics. The lecture is from 2008 and is on topics he is an expert on, not on urban farming which he evidently gets wrong.

The Heart of U.S. Economic Decline: Our Inability to Raise the Gas Tax. A link from the Infrastructurist on how raising the gas tax, among its many benefits such as helping re-build transportation infrastructure in the U.S., can actually help the country's financial troubles.