Government / Politics
Transit Plans in Charlotte Face Budget Troubles
Expansion of transit has helped fuel a boost in ridership over the last decade in Charlotte. But with falling tax revenues, the city looks unlikely to be able to continue its planned transit growth.
Demolished For A Project That Would Never Be
The decision to cancel the planned tunnel beneath the Hudson River to connect New York and New Jersey was not without repercussions.
Improving Communications About Transit
This post from The City Fix looks at various efforts to increase communication between transit riders and transit providers in Chicago.
Rethinking Detroit
Detroit reporter John Gallagher's new book "Reimagining Detroit" considers what it will take to remake The Motor City into a model that will work for the future.
Livability Means Being Poor and Eating Only Iceberg Lettuce
Robert Steuteville comments on a recent article by Alan Pisarski that he says "regurgitates many of the heavy-handed arguments of the pro-sprawl, pro-highway crowd" in reaction to the Obama Administration's livability agenda.
Rough Tracks Ahead For High Speed Rail In Congress
Transportation consultant Ken Orski looks at post-election results in OH, WI, and FL as consistent with Newsweek's Robert J. Samuelson's pre-election column calling for an end to what he sees as wasteful and inappropriate high speed rail investment.
New L.A. Planning Codes Could Create 'Transit Sprawl'
A new group of activists in Los Angeles is warning that recently approved changes to the city's planning code could make it easier for transit-related projects to be approved even if they are not in alignment with neighborhood planning documents.
SF's Congestion Pricing Plan Advances
Three possibilities for tolling San Francisco's downtown have been advanced by the Board of Supervisors; two involve tolling the 'Southern Gateway', the only entrance to the peninsula city that is untolled. However, Prop 26 could doom the plan.
Transit Tax Referendum May Be Blocked in Indiana
Voters in Indiana were set to vote on a referendum to raise money for an ambitious $2.4 billion transit plan, but now the state's Republican leaders say they'll block the effort.
Austin BRT Revived
Two bus rapid transit projects in Austin that have been delayed for years due to lack of funding have been revived.
Vancouver's Transit Options, With Pricetag
Mayors in metropolitan Vancouver are facing two options for expanding transit service in the region -- and a hard decision about how to generate the funding to make it happen.
Transit Transformation in New Orleans
Jonna McKone asks, "How can transportation and urban development—from housing to public spaces to landscaping—repair a blighted American city?"
Environmentalists Torn Over Smart Growth
A Berkeley, CA growth initiative revealed the stresses that smart growth play on grassroots environmental organizations like the Sierra Club where members determine positions.
Doing More With Less in Los Angeles
In a recent press release, L.A. Director of Planning Michael LoGrande announced that he is reorganizing their reduced staff to "focus on and master critical functions."
What Makes A City Great? An American Perspective
H.V. Savitch attempts to break down the attributes that make a city great, and concludes that a city need not score high in all the categories in order to achieve greatness.
California 'Fee' Proposition To Wreak Fiscal Havoc
While Propositions 19 (marijuana) and 23 (global warming suspension) grabbed headlines, Prop 26, which would require a 2/3rds vote threshold for fees, slipped under the radar and passed. Opponents say it could make regulation nearly impossible.
City Branding Can't Be Lipstick on a Pig
PlaceMaker Scott Doyon says that for cities -- maybe more than any other organization -- branding is about who you really are, and what what you really do, not a meaningless slogan or logo.
A Natural Way to Green Brownfields
With more than 11,000 acres of brownfield sites in New York City sitting underused due to contamination, officials there want to get things cleaned up and reused. Urban designer Kaja Kühl offers this field guide to small-scale bioremediation to help.
Shanghai Expo Closes With Focus On "Development through Development"
The Expo’s stated theme was “Better City, Better Life,” and organizers boasted it was the first World’s Fair devoted to the contemplation of cities.
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.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
