The Kansas City Star newspaper used nearly two-dozen quality-of-life indicators to rate and rank some 40 suburbs around Kansas City.
"For generations now, the American Dream has meant a home in the suburbs. But today, there are so many to choose from. Which ones offer the best overall quality of life? The Kansas City Star newspaper set to find out. The result was a comprehensive analysis of suburban life. The newspaper studied suburbs as places to live and rated them on 23 statistical measures, from school test scores to neighborhood diversity scores, from crime rates to property tax rates. The 23 measures were grouped into 9 categories that were then weighted, based on results of an opinion poll that asked suburbanites what they considered important to their quality of life. This found, for instance, that they considered safety to be twice as important as commuting and traffic. In the end, the paper did stories counting down the top 10 suburbs, highlighting a different theme in each suburb, and presented a full list of how all suburbs ranked. This was done to help residents understand what makes a good suburb and so they could come to know disparate parts of their metropolitan region better."
Thanks to Jeffrey Spivak
FULL STORY: Rating the Suburbs

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie