Infrastructure

Las Vegas Sprawl

Sales Tax to Fund Water Projects Extended in Las Vegas Region

The Clark County Commission is extending a sales tax, created in 1998, which could have drawn to a close after raising $2.3 billion or the year 2025, whichever came first. The tax will remain in place indefinitely.

September 5, 2019 - Las Vegas Sun

Interstate 580

Counties Outside of Bay Area Eye Transportation Mega Measure in 2020

Northern San Joaquin Valley transit officials are eying a $100 billion Bay Area transportation measure to potentially fund a $1 billion rail tunnel for two commuter railroads to bring workers to the East Bay and Silicon Valley.

September 5, 2019 - The Sacramento Bee

Baltimore Middle Branch Patapsco River

Transforming the Waterfront into Baltimore's 'Blue Green Heart'

Dutch design firm West 8 recently won a competition to rethink an 11-mile stretch of the Baltimore's waterfront, not to be confused with a $5.5 billion project to redevelop Port Covington.

September 5, 2019 - Next City

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

New York City's Transportation Future Hindered by a Dysfunctional Present

Too many innovative proposals to solve the city’s biggest transportation problems fall by the wayside.

September 5, 2019 - Intelligencer - New York Magazine

Los Angeles River

L.A. County's Sustainability Plan Crafted With a Little Help From University Friends

Los Angeles County's new, ambitious sustainability plan was crafted in collaboration with the significant resources available in the region, including one of the nation's finest public universities.

September 4, 2019 - UCLA Newsroom

Tallgrass Prairie

Texas Roadway a Threat to Prairie Preserve, Say Environmentalists

Part of the Houston-area Grand Parkway would pass through a tallgrass prairie reserve, and opponents say it would destroy the grasslands and bird habitat.

September 4, 2019 - Streetsblog USA

Seattle Streetcar

Seattle Streetcar Project Facing Major Challenges

The city council approved funding for a new streetcar line, but cost increases mean the project is behind schedule and federal funds could be in jeopardy.

September 3, 2019 - The Seattle Times

New York Bridge

A New Bridge to Connect Brooklyn and Queens

The new Kosciuszko Bridge offers multi-modal passage between boroughs, views to the Manhattan skyline, and probably impossible promises of congestion reduction.

September 3, 2019 - The New York Times

Coal Ash Waste

Governor, Regulators Standing Up to Dirty Energy Interests in North Carolina

Can a Democratic governor in a state controlled by a Republic legislature achieve meaningful emissions reductions from the state's energy utilities? North Carolina Governor Gary Cooper is trying.

September 3, 2019 - Inside Climate News

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Editorial: The Best New Chesapeake Bay Bridge Is No New Chesapeake Bay Bridge

The Baltimore Sun Editorial Board finds numerous faults with the state of Maryland's preliminary investigation of an idea to add another bridge across the Chesapeake Bay near Annapolis.

September 2, 2019 - The Baltimore Sun

Transportation Network Companies

Uber's Complicated Story

Since its founding a decade ago, Uber has reshaped the world through a trajectory of highs and lows.

September 2, 2019 - The New York Times

Bike and Bus Lane

Lack of Traffic Safety Enforcement Blamed for Vision Zero Failures

Education, engineering, and enforcement are the three "e's" of Vision Zero in San Francisco. A lack of on of those "e's"—enforcement—might explain why more people are dying on the city's streets this year that any year since the city adopted Vision Z

September 2, 2019 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Tree Grate

The Problem with Pilot Programs

Pilot programs are a way to test out a policy or program to ensure it is the right solution before investing significant amounts of money. But they also pose a variety of challenges.

September 1, 2019 - Governing

Solar Power

Union Opposition Puts Brakes on 'Record-Cheap' Solar Installation

Under a proposed 25-year solar contact, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power would pay record-cheap prices for 400 megawatts of power. But the utility declined to approve the deal after a utility workers' union raised concerns.

September 1, 2019 - The Los Angeles Times

Ghost Bike

Op-Ed: Street Safety Is a Matter of Race

What do traffic safety and gun violence have in common? A lot, as it turns out. In both cases, hard-hit neighborhoods tend to have suffered from historical disinvestment along racial lines.

September 1, 2019 - Brookings

Green Buildings

Green Building Improvements Have a Friend in PACE

An under-reported loan model called Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, financed $660 million of sustainable building improvements from 2016 through 2018.

September 1, 2019 - The New York Times

Los Angeles Downtown Historic Core

L.A. Times Editorial Supports Redevelopment 2.0

California's redevelopment program was killed during the budget fallout of the Great Recession. Now more state politicians see how tax increment devoted to development investments could be one tool int he state's affordable housing crisis.

August 31, 2019 - Los Angeles Times

Library

New Ideas in Urban Research 2019

Research questions and findings from Penn IUR's emerging scholars.

August 31, 2019 - Penn IUR Urban Link

Chariot Shuttle

When Microtransit Works as Public Transit, Explained

How to make Microtransit work. Hint: it's about coverage, not ridership.

August 30, 2019 - Human Transit

Aurelian Wall

How Transportation Technology Determines the Footprint of Cities

The Marchetti Constant, the willingness of people to travel for about a half an hour to get to and from work, explains the size of cities in history, and the metropolitan areas of today.

August 30, 2019 - CityLab

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.