Infrastructure
Part One: Should MoMA Tout Tactical Urbanism(s) as a Solution to Uneven Growth?
In part one of a two-part series, I introduce MoMA's latest Issues in Contemporary Architecture exhibit and offer a definition of Tactical Urbanism.
Transportation Think Tank Recommends Ending Highway Trust Fund
The non-partisan Eno Center for Transportation has had it with futile attempts to raise the federal gas tax and the never-ending transfers (bailouts?) from the federal general fund to keep roads and transit funded. "Pay as you go" no longer works.
The Top Bike Lane Projects of 2014
Bike lanes are hot right now in cities all over the country. As more and more cities build more and more miles of bike infrastructure, which projects are exemplary?
New Mayor, New Agenda for the Port City of Long Beach
Recently elected Mayor of Long Beach Robert Garcia, 37 years old, outlines his priorities: education, climate change, and economic development.
On the Importance of Bike Parking to Bike Commute Adoption
A blogger writes that bike advocates should think outside the bike lane to bike parking facilities—only when the costs of biking are externalized will a critical mass adopt biking.
Urban vs. Suburban: The Debate Continues
However your read the tea leaves, if it's true the 'burbs are reinventing themselves in the new era, it’s walkable, compact urbanism that's providing a game plan.
750-Mile Trail Network Near Philadelphia Receives $8.6 Million Gift
The William Penn Foundation has awarded $8.6 million in support for The Circuit—a planned regional network of bicycle and pedestrian trails for greater Philadelphia.
The Most Popular Planetizen Posts of 2014
We've been collecting data on the posts you made the most popular for the year 2014.
Study: Trip Generation Manual Produces 'Phantom Trips'
Research suggests that the Trip Generation Manual—a familiar tool for planners calculating the vehicle trips expected to be generated by developments of various sizes and uses—produces "phantom trips" and unneeded automobile infrastructure.
Kansas City Proceeding with the First of (Possibly) Many Road Diets
Mike Hendricks reports on road diet plans for Grand Boulevard in Downtown Kansas City.
Federal Spending Bill Passes—TIGER Trimmed But Still Alive
With most of its funding intact for 2014, and a proposed ban on funding for active transportation projects off the table, fans of TIGER grants can take a deep breath.
After Keystone Delay, Enviros Challenge Other Pipelines
After successfully stalling the Keystone XL pipeline that would transport tar sands crude from Alberta to Gulf area refineries, environmental activists are targeting other proposed pipelines, although the result may be more crude-by-rail shipments.
Bicycle Plan Leads to Parking Policy Questions in St. Paul
St. Paul is in the community engagement stage of a bike planning process expected to culminate early next year. Among the bike plan's proposals, none have sparked as much controversy as a downtown loop that would remove street parking.
The Georgia Transportation Funding Debate
Georgia's experience emerging from the recession as revenues increase after years of government belt tightening is common around the country. The question now: How to finance the improvements to the state's neglected transportation infrastructure?
Republican Governors, Encouraged by Low Gas Prices, to Raise Gas Taxes
While there may never be a good time to increase the federal gas tax, the same is not true when it comes to state gas taxes—perhaps because governors can't transfer billions of dollars from general funds to pay for roads. Lower gas prices helps.
Street Trees on State Roads Spark Controversy in Louisville
Louisville's goals to plant and grow an urban forest to mitigate the city's heat island effect has run afoul of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's engineering standards for state owned roads.
1100-Mile High Speed Rail Route Opens in China—Equivalent to Los Angeles to Seattle
China opened 32(!) new high speed rail routes this week, including a connection between Shanghai and Guanzhou equivalent to a trip between Los Angeles and Seattle.
Five Things You Need to Know About E-Bikes—An Urban Transportation Paradigm Shift
When you have a small electric motor, a battery, and a throttle on your bicycle, it becomes very difficult to make any more excuses. Here's why...
Op-Ed: Urban Design Should Mind the Line Between 'Cute' and 'Safe'
Sarah Goodyear writes a dissenting take on the "cutestification" of urban design—calling for a priority on clean and safe over "fun."
Is There Ever a Good Time to Increase the Federal Gas Tax?
Oil prices are at a five-year low with gasoline prices averaging $2.67 a gallon, lowest since February 2010. Furthermore, they are expected to drop another 17 cents to $2.50 a gallon in time for Christmas, so why not raise the gas tax by a nickel?
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
