Revisiting one day in 2012, a reporter finds that many of the Dallas-Fort Worth areas affected by the storms were barely inhabited 20 years ago.
At the Texas Tribune, Daniel Levy recounts one day in 2012 during which 17 tornadoes caused $700 million in damages across the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It’s partly memorable for the 110 airplanes taken out, but it’s also memorable because it demonstrates how sprawl makes people and places more vulnerable to natural disasters.
The strongest tornado of the day struck Forney, a suburb 20 miles east of downtown Dallas. Forney has grown by more than 230 percent since 2000, adding 13,000 residents. At 2:33 p.m., an EF-3 tornado with peak winds of 170 mph tore through more neighborhoods, including the Diamond Creek subdivision, that didn’t exist a decade before.
The article includes a map showing the various paths of the various tornadoes; it demonstrates that many of them of them started, ended or passed through areas that have only been developed in the last 20 years, and others passed through areas that will likely be developed in the next 20.
FULL STORY: As cities sprawl, more Texans are exposed to tornadoes
Dallas Code Reform Makes Way for Missing Middle Housing
The Dallas City Council voted to change the city’s building code to allow up to eight residential units in three-story buildings.
Zoning for Good
A new book highlights the power of zoning to change communities for the better.
Is Sprawl the Only Answer to High Housing Costs?
A recent article argues that sprawl is the solution to high housing costs, pointing out that low-density Sunbelt cities are more affordable than some more compact metro areas. What's wrong with this argument?
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
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.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association