March Must-Reads: Top 10 Articles From Last Month

Proposed housing solutions, Chicago transit in peril, and executive actions in limbo.

3 minute read

April 1, 2025, 5:00 AM PDT

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


New modern home in grays with ADU and porta-potty out front being built in Kirkland, Washington.

A new home with an ADU being built in Kirkland, Washington, where recent zoning reforms allow for ADU construction in most areas. | knelson20 / Adobe Stock

The housing crisis, at its various scales, took center stage for Planetizen readers last month: While Florida could legalize ADUs statewide, San Diego is reining in its rules, which allowed developers to build multi-story, multi-unit buildings that some residents said were not the intended result of the law. Meanwhile, a crucial source of affordable housing, mobile home parks, is losing ground to investors. HUD announced a plan to explore housing development on federal lands, though many of these are far from the urban centers where housing is most sorely needed, and California’s shelter system reveals major gaps in service and safety. Chicago-area transit leaders warn that without additional funding, their agencies could face severe cuts, kneecapping the regional economy. And Volkswagen brings a new look to the van that defined the hippie era with the electric re-release of its iconic VW bus.

The full list of March’s most-read stories:

1. Florida Considers Legalizing ADUs

A proposed Florida law would bar municipalities from restricting ADUs in single-family-zoned neighborhoods.

2. Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing 

An article in Shelterforce explains how manufactured housing, once a key source of affordable housing, is becoming a profit-driven sector that threatens the livelihood of many low-income Americans.

3. San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule

Newly passed ADU regulations opened the door for what some residents called ‘granny towers.’ Now, the city wants to rein them in.

4. Trump Administration Unfreezes Pennsylvania Climate Funding Amidst Lawsuits 

Pennsylvania will receive over $2 billion in previously frozen federal funds for abandoned mine remediation due to an ongoing lawsuit filed by Governor Josh Shapiro.

5. Has President Trump Met His Match? 

Ontario Premier Doug Ford isn’t backing down from President Trump’s tariff war with Canada.

6. HUD Announces Plan to Build Housing on Public Lands 

The administration wants to build housing on federally owned lands, but housing advocates argue that the focus should be on urbanized areas where the need for affordable housing is greatest.

7. Chicago Transit Agencies on Brink of Major Crisis  

Chicagoland transit riders could experience service cuts of 40 percent without additional funding from state and regional sources.

8. Investigation Reveals Just How Badly California’s Homeless Shelters are Failing 

An in-depth investigation of California shelters found them rife with violence, neglect, and unhealthy conditions.

9. Planning Trends for 2025: Creative Housing Solutions, Ongoing Transit Woes, and the Ever-Creeping Tentacles of AI 

No one can pretend to know what 2025 will hold, but we did our best to round up the most impactful movements in the planning world.

10. The VW Bus is Back — Now as an Electric Minivan 

The iconic hippie mobile looks — and sounds — a little different.


Diana Ionescu

Diana is a writer and urbanist passionate about public space, historical memory, and transportation equity. Prior to joining Planetizen, she started and managed a farmers' market and worked as a transportation planner in the bike share industry. She is Planetizen's editor as of January 2022.

portrait of professional woman

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

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Aerial view of town of Wailuku in Maui, Hawaii with mountains in background against cloudy sunset sky.

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly

Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

July 1, 2025 - Honolulu Civil Beat

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

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

July 2, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

White and purple sign for Slow Street in San Francisco, California with people crossing crosswalk.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths

Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

July 1, 2025 - KQED

"Altadena - Not For Sale" yard sign in front of burned down house after Eaton Fire in Altadena, California in January 2025.

Half of Post-Fire Altadena Home Sales Were to Corporations

Large investors are quietly buying up dozens of properties in Altadena, California, where a devastating wildfire destroyed more than 6,000 homes in January.

July 7 - Dwell

Dense multistory residential buildings in hilly San Francisco, California.

Opinion: What San Francisco’s Proposed ‘Family Zoning’ Could Really Mean

Mayor Lurie is using ‘family zoning’ to encourage denser development and upzoning — but could the concept actually foster community and more human-scale public spaces?

July 7 - The San Francisco Standard

Blue self-driving Ford Transit van shuttle in Jacksonville, Florida.

Jacksonville Launches First Autonomous Transit Shuttle in US

A fleet of 14 fully autonomous vehicles will serve a 3.5-mile downtown Jacksonville route with 12 stops.

July 7 - Smart Cities Dive

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.

Associate/Senior Planner

Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development

Senior Planner

Heyer Gruel & Associates PA

Write for Planetizen