With hot-button issues like the Hudson Tunnel crisis forcing a new perspective about the connection of New York city to its surrounding region, Mayor de Blasio has responded by creating a new office of regional planning.
Dana Rubinstein reports: "The New York City planning department is hiring a 'regional planning office director,' according to a job posting [pdf] that appeared on its on its website Sept. 30."
"The office is a new one, born of de Blasio’s OneNYC sustainability plan. According to planning commission chairman Carl Weisbrod, it will at first consist of two people. It might also be the first of its kind."
For many years, regional planning in the New York metropolitan area has been the task of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the Regional Plan Association. The article notes that New York City has never had a particularly strong culture of regional planning. New York Planning Commissioner Car Weisbrod is quoted in the article citing Denver and Chicago as two cities that plan more effectively on the regional level.
FULL STORY: De Blasio goes regional with new planning office
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association