Looks like Santa is an urbanist! Here’s his special Christmas edition of this week’s urban news and views:

• Santa’s Top 10 Favorite Cities: While Santa is double-checking his “nice” list and his little helpers are starting to load up the sleigh, the data elves at Zillow have been hard at work crunching numbers to mathematically calculate Santa’s favorite cities to visit tonight. (Zillow Blog)

• America’s Most Festive Christmas Cities: cities are at their best during the winter holidays — with bright lights, big trees and spectacular celebrations usually at the root of the Christmastime joy. (eHow.com)

• Great public spaces make great holiday places: A look at how much the winter holidays bring out in us a shared spirit, often experienced on sidewalks and plazas. (Kaid Benfield’s Blog)

Of course Christmas wouldn’t be complete without one a couple of practical, ‘it’s good for you gifts’ that we hated receiving as kids’…

• A Physicist Solves the City: Why do cities grow and thrive? What causes them to stagnate and fall? Geoffrey West thinks the tools of physics can give us the answers. (New York Times Magazine)

• Access vs. mobility: Happy people or happy cars? If the fundamental goal is happy people, then we need innovative performance metrics. (New Urban Network)