Infrastructure

Arlington County, Virginia

Community Benefits Package for Amazon's HQ2 Takes Shape

Details of the community benefits package promised as part of Amazon's HQ2 development deal with Arlington County, Virginia made news this week.

November 27, 2019 - WTOP

San Francisco, California

Caltrans to Ditch Level of Service for Vehicle Miles Traveled

Unlike for land use regulations, state law doesn't require Caltrans to switch from Level of Service to Vehicle Miles Traveled in measuring the environmental impact of projects. The state department of transportation is making the change anyway.

November 27, 2019 - Streetsblog California

QLine

Op-Ed: Detroit's QLINE Is 'At Times an Embarrassment'

Randy Essex details why it is that "rely" isn't a word that comes to mind for many Detroiters when they think about downtown's QLINE streetcar system.

November 27, 2019 - The Detroit Free Press

New York Subway

Why New York City's Flooding Its Own Subway Entrances

MTA reassured disoriented New Yorkers that it's flooding subway entrances on purpose, to test barriers that it hopes will guard the system against another Sandy.

November 27, 2019 - Quartz

Society Hill Historic Buildings

How One Wealthy, Historic Neighborhood Maintains an Exclusionary Status Quo

Philadelphia Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron has had enough with the exclusionary planning tactics of the neighborhood of Society Hill to start calling it the "Republic of Society Hill."

November 27, 2019 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Denver, Colorado

The Top Urban Planning Books of 2019

The decade wraps up with another engaging crop of highly readable and recommendable books on the subject of urban planning. There's a lot to learn, on many related subjects, among this year's top planning books.

November 26, 2019 - Josh Stephens

Personal Mobility

D.C. Speeds Up Protected Bike Lane Plans

The District Department of Transportation last week promised to double the pace of its planned construction of protected bike lanes, but advocates say the District still isn't doing enough to provide safe accommodations for people on bikes.

November 26, 2019 - The Washington Post

Baltimore Multi-Modal Path

Baltimore's 'Big Jump'

A temporary bike and pedestrian path is changing the street design game in Baltimore.

November 26, 2019 - Greater Greater Washington

San Francisco Traffic

Congestion Pricing Under Discussion in San Francisco

An expanding number of major U.S. cities are exploring the idea of charging drivers to drive into certain heavily trafficked parts of town. San Francisco is the most recent to explore the idea of congestion pricing (also known as cordon pricing).

November 25, 2019 - Smart Cities Dive

Central Suburban Passenger Company

A New Suburban Rail System for Moscow

Two of a planned five new suburban rail routes, modeled on examples in Paris and Berlin, opened last week in Russia.

November 25, 2019 - Railway Gazette

New York Bike Signage

Op-Ed: NYC Making Progress on Bike Network Access, Should Do More

2019 was the first year in which New York City's Department of Transportation kept affected bike lanes open during the UN's General Assembly. That should be a sign of things to come, advocates argue.

November 25, 2019 - StreetsBlog NYC

Colorado Interstate

$1.6 Billion Highway Improvement Program Announced in Colorado

The Colorado Department of Transportation will spend big on highway projects over the next three years.

November 24, 2019 - The Denver Post

Yonge Street Toronto

A Pedestrian-Forward Vision for Toronto Roadway

Toronto’s iconic Yonge Street is heavily used by pedestrians, and, according to this article, it's time for a revamp that acknowledges all of the street's users.

November 24, 2019 - The Star

Wind farm and greenhouse gas farm, together

California's Priorities for Electrification and Resilience

CEC Chair David Hochschild shares the commission’s strategy for improving the current grid system and how California has been, and will continue to be, a global leader in clean energy innovation.

November 23, 2019 - VerdeXchange News

Wise County, Texas

$3.5 Billion Development With Room for 10,000 Homes Planned Near Forth Worth

When complete, the Rolling V Ranch will be one of the largest residential developments in the state of Texas.

November 23, 2019 - The Dallas Morning News

Santa Monica, California

Santa Monica Designs Greenest Municipal Building in the World

Amber Richane, Project Manager for the city of Santa Monica's new City Services Building, on the city's commitment to building the world's most sustainable public building.

November 22, 2019 - The Planning Report

The Transit Agency formerly known as the Nashville MTA

Nashville Loses Out on Federal Transit Grant, Adding to Agency's Budget Woes

WeGo Public Transit did not receive a grant to build a transit center, and transit advocates say it’s a sobering setback in light of the agency’s other budget challenges.

November 22, 2019 - News Channel 5 Nashville

Downtown Boston

A Bold Vision for a Car-Free Boston

As other cities take daring steps to reclaim their streets, a car ban in downtown Boston doesn’t seem so implausible.

November 22, 2019 - Curbed Boston

Denver Bikes

Big Bike and Scooter Rental Shakeup Coming to Denver

Publically-owned bikeshare company B-Cycle will be scrapped and eventually be replaced, and the city is also planning to overhaul it's pilot dockless bike and scooter rental program.

November 22, 2019 - The Denver Post

Huandao Road

China's Global Power Play

China's Belt and Road Initiative, a massive program to develop infrastructure in dozens of countries worldwide, may be the largest construction project in history. Its benefits to host countries—and to China itself—remain far from certain.

November 22, 2019 - The Architect's Newspaper

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.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.