Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Blair Kamin assesses the remodeled Gateway Arch in St. Louis, prior to its big public opening on July 3.

The Gateway Arch isn't just a monument to westward expansion—for many it’s a symbol of St. Louis. But in the past, according to a review by Blair Kamin, the monument has "seemed a little removed from the city around it."
For decades, a highway trench and a busy surface street cut off the Arch from nearby downtown. People walking to the Eero Saarinen-designed landmark had to cross narrow highway bridges as cars and trucks sped below. Other visitors would deposit their vehicles in a parking deck on the north side of the Arch’s grounds, take in the 630-foot-tall icon, then leave without ever setting foot downtown.
Kamin's assessment of the newly renovated grounds and museum of the arch will notice how much better the monument now connects to the city (another article by Doyle Murphy posits that the project is also emblematic of a city reconnecting with its river).
The most dramatic new element, a broad land bridge that spans Interstate Highway 44, creates a continuous public park that lets visitors walk uninterrupted from the domed Old Courthouse on one side of the highway to the Arch on the other. Once they cross, they encounter the museum’s new entrance, an elegant and inviting half-circle of metal and glass. New galleries that engagingly tell the story of the nation’s westward drive await below.
In addition to introducing some of the design history of the Gateway Arch, the review also discusses some of the attendance and revitalization benchmarks that will define the success of the project when it's fully reopened.
FULL STORY: Gateway Arch transformed: New landscape, expanded museum better link the icon to St. Louis

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

In Both Crashes and Crime, Public Transportation is Far Safer than Driving
Contrary to popular assumptions, public transportation has far lower crash and crime rates than automobile travel. For safer communities, improve and encourage transit travel.

Report: Zoning Reforms Should Complement Nashville’s Ambitious Transit Plan
Without reform, restrictive zoning codes will limit the impact of the city’s planned transit expansion and could exclude some of the residents who depend on transit the most.

Judge Orders Release of Frozen IRA, IIJA Funding
The decision is a victory for environmental groups who charged that freezing funds for critical infrastructure and disaster response programs caused “real and irreparable harm” to communities.
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.
Clanton & Associates, Inc.
Jessamine County Fiscal Court
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service