Land Use
Will ‘Worst Parking Crater’ Award Produce Policy Change?
Streetsblog doesn’t pull any punches with its “Golden Crater” award—an award for the worst parking crater in the country, selected by a March Madness style tournament. This year's winner/loser: Rochester, New York.
After Mayoral Scandal, What Next for Charlotte's Permitting Reform, Streetcar Project?
Former Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon resigned after taking bribes in exchange for zoning and parking privileges. Will the fallout affect the city's streetcar plans or its efforts to streamline permitting and code enforcement?
Moving the Hollywood Fault to Suit Developers
Morris Newman sees the lighter side of complaints over a new state geology map that puts an earthquake fault under some big real estate plans.
'People Habitat': Kaid Benfield Takes Smart Growth to a Higher Level
Kaid Benfield has a new book out, which Scott Doyon found positively uplifting. In ways beyond what you might be thinking.
Charting the 'Urban Shift' Among Technology Start-Ups
Once upon a time, tech start-ups located almost exclusively in the suburbs. New data reveals the extent to which this pattern has been reversed.
What's Wrong With Walk Score's Food Desert Map
Walk Score’s new food desert map is a potentially powerful tool in the ongoing policy debate about access to healthy foods. But it’s still a work in progress.
Come Together Locally for Smarter Growth
Connecting competence to organized support is key to reversing the Sisyphean cycle of urban placemaking.
How Easy is Walking to the Grocery Store in Your City?
Angie Schmitt shares news of an effort by WalkScore to rank cities based on the ability of residents to access grocery stores on foot. WalkScore invites planners all over country to use their data to improve walkable access to food in cities.
A Challenge for Planners to "CEQA-in-Reverse"
Bill Fulton says a legal challenge from the building industry may teach a useful lesson: the California Environmental Quality Act isn't the only tool planners can use to keep projects and their occupants out of harm's way
Small City Braces for Marijuana Dispensaries with New Zoning Restrictions
Burlington, Massachusetts is considering a zoning bylaw to determine the location of “Registered Marijuana Dispensaries” before a state deadline for creating land use controls for dispensaries. The legal distinctions in zoning for RMDs are tricky.
Push to 'Free the Food Trucks' in Dallas
A newly formed coalition of the food truck owners has begun lobbying the Dallas City Council to reduce the regulations governing the operation of food trucks around the city and open the streets to mobile food vending.
Catastrophic Mud Slide in Washington—Could it Have Been Prevented?
The death toll in this rural area 55 miles north of Seattle in Snohomish County is expected to rise. Rain had saturated the ground and led to the collapse of a hillside about 600 feet high and 1,500 feet long. But was the slide foreseeable?
Social Justice Through Tiny House Communities
Tiny houses aren’t just for eco-warriors. They can also be a means for homeless and mentally ill individuals to reenter mainstream society.
Self Sufficiency Through Urban Farming
Lessons from a successful urban farming effort can be applied to achieve resource independence aside from just food.
Sow Low-Density Residential; Reap Lack of Retail
The cautionary tale of “a very suburban kerfuffle” in Blaine, Minnesota: residents of a “large, multi-builder housing development” who once opposed a multi-family residential development in the neighborhood now lament a lack of retail.
Vancouver Could Remove Parking Minimums for Condo Developments
Vancouver’s Transportation 2040 plan allowed for the easing of parking minimums for residential developments in parts of the city, and now city planners are beginning to explore where and how condos can be built without parking.
D.C.’s Height Limits: Are You Ready for Some Football?
Congress is working on increasing height limits in Washington D.C. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California) based pitching increased the limits by appealing to that fundamental American passion: football.
Kansas City Planning to Revamp Washington Square Park
Several planning efforts are in the process to rethink Washington Square Park in Downtown Kansas City. In an already bustling part of Downtown, stakeholders are considering the changes ahead of a forthcoming influx of daytime working population.
Home on the Range: Plans to Expand Wild Bison Roaming
Montana state officials are considering a plan to allow wild bison to roam in a larger area outside of Yellowstone National Park. Ranchers oppose the project for fear of disease spreading to area livestock.
Troy Transit Center Complete—But Off Limits
Transit users in Troy, located to the north of Detroit, spent the weather standing outside waiting for trains and buses while a $6.3 million (indoor) transit facility sat unused due to a legal dispute.
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 Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
