July’s Must Reads: Top 10 Articles from Last Month

In case you missed them, here were the biggest urban planning news items, features, and blogs from last month, including 15 new Amtrak routes, Florida’s EV law, California’s rail update, fare-free buses in Tucson, and more.

3 minute read

August 1, 2024, 11:00 AM PDT

By Mary Hammon @marykhammon

Text that reads July's Must Reads: Planetizen's Top 10 Articles from Last Month with a photo of an Amtrak train traveling through the Utah desert.

Planetizen / David Gubler, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

July saw a bevy of big transportation headlines, including Amtrak’s ambitious new routes designed to improve connectivity across the country, a recent Florida law centralizing the regulation of electric vehicle chargers, the latest developments on California’s high-speed rail, Tucson’s fare-free bus system decision, and more. Check out these stories, as well as an in-depth feature on pre-approved housing plans from Dan Parolek, a rundown of technologies shaping the future of urban planning, and an update on a Florida lawsuit against short term rental ordinances.

Here were the most popular articles on Planetizen last month:

1. Amtrak Reveals Plans for 15 New Routes

Amtrak announced plans for 15 new routes, including lines connecting Los Angeles, Denver, and Seattle through Utah. These routes aim to enhance rail service in rural areas and significantly reduce travel times between major cities.

2. Florida Law Bars Cities From Regulating EV Chargers

A new Florida law prevents cities from regulating electric vehicle charging infrastructure or including it in local building codes, centralizing that authority with the state’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

3. Top 10 Public Transit Cities in the US

Rent.com ranked the top 10 U.S. cities for public transit. New York City captured the top spot, followed by Boston, Washington, D.C, and San Francisco. Check out the article to see which cities rounded out the rest of the list.

4. 12 Technologies That Will Shape Future of Urban Planning

Forbes identified technologies that will have the biggest impact on urban planning, with the promise to improve urban mobility, efficiency, and resource management.

5. California High-Speed Rail Gains Final Approval

The California High-Speed Rail project received final approval for its last segment despite a $100 billion funding gap.

6. The Good, the Bad, and the Ethical: A Moral Philosopher's Perspective on Sustainable Urban Mobility

This Planetizen-exclusive blog post examines the ethics of sustainable urban mobility a la Chidi from The Good Place.

7. Top 10 Tips for Cities Considering Pre-Approved Housing Plans

The feature story from missing middle housing champion Dan Parolek provides ten tips for cities considering pre-approved housing plans to streamline development processes and enhance housing affordability.

8. Tucson Keeps Buses Fare-Free

Tucson has decided to keep its bus system fare-free for at least another year. This initiative, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic, aims to increase public transit ridership and is part of the city's climate action plan.

9. Federal Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Short-Term Rental Ordinance

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging Summit County, Colorado's short-term rental ordinance, which limits the number of rental licenses by neighborhood and caps the number of annual bookings.

10. Applying the New Traffic Safety Paradigm

Planetizen blogger Todd Litman discusses the application of a new traffic safety paradigm that focuses on reducing vehicle miles traveled to improve safety.

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Editor’s note: Portions of this Planetizen blog post were generated using OpenAI’s language model, ChatCPT. Planetizen editors have been looking into ethical uses of AI in journalism and wanted to test it. In this post, ChatGPT was used to summarize previously published Planetizen stories, which provided text that served as a starting point and then was edited and refined further.

Housing Technology Transportation Planetizen Top Articles Amtrak Rail and Bus Transit Fare-Free Pre-approved Housing Plans Short-Term Rentals ev charging station Public Transit View More

Mary Hammon

Mary is an editor and writer who is passionate about urban planning and the direct impact it has on people's lives and how we experience the world around us. Prior to joining Planetizen as editorial manager in December 2023, she spent eight years as an editor for Planning magazine, the flagship publication of the American Planning Association.

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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