Planetizen's Nate Berg reports on advertisers in Los Angeles using steam cleaners to put corporate logos into the grimy sidewalk. Advertisers claim, "If anything, we've improved public property. We've cleaned up streets that were normally filthy."
"It's a clever way to get attention: pressure-wash through the scum of the sidewalk to erase an outlined message into the dirt about clean-burning cars. But, according to city officials, it's also an explicitly out-of-place form of advertising in a city crowded with a forest of illegal billboards and illegal supergraphics. And this one uses the public right of way, installed without the city's knowledge or approval.
"There's no way to get a permit for something like that," says Tonya Durrell from the Public Affairs Office at the city's Department of Public Works, the agency in charge of building and maintaining city facilities and infrastructure."
FULL STORY: Urine the Money With L.A. Sidewalk Ads
Depopulation Patterns Get Weird
A recent ranking of “declining” cities heavily features some of the most expensive cities in the country — including New York City and a half-dozen in the San Francisco Bay Area.
California Exodus: Population Drops Below 39 Million
Never mind the 40 million that demographers predicted the Golden State would reach by 2018. The state's population dipped below 39 million to 38.965 million last July, according to Census data released in March, the lowest since 2015.
Chicago to Turn High-Rise Offices into Housing
Four commercial buildings in the Chicago Loop have been approved for redevelopment into housing in a bid to revitalize the city’s downtown post-pandemic.
The State of E-Scooters in the US
Eight years after shared e-scooters were first introduced in US cities, the industry still teeters on the edge of success, hindered in part by limited infrastructure.
Rochester Shows Possible Future for Former Highways
A former freeway is undergoing a massive redevelopment that goes beyond highway removal to reconnect and revitalize surrounding areas.
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Town of Zionsville
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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.
