CVS is about as American as apple pie, but at what cost to American communities?

Mark Lamster, architecture critic for the Dallas Morning News, pens a scathing critique of the CVS drugstores that populate urban street corners and anchor suburban strip malls all over the country:
If I were to tell you a drug dealer had recently colonized a popular street corner, thereby precluding all civic life around it, that would sound like a familiar scenario, conjuring visions from crime dramas likeThe Wire.
But what if the drug dealer in question wasn't some low-rent street pusher, but one of America's largest corporations, and what if it was operating not just in some impoverished neighborhood most of us don't visit, but all across the city?
What if that dealer was CVS?
Lamster goes on from that beginning to provide an honest appraisal of both the interior design choices and the site plans that produce a footprint in the built environment that encourages all of the vices of sprawl, and none of the health benefits a neighborhood drugstore should be aiming to deliver. A recently constructed example from Dallas, the Bishop Arts store on the corner of Zang Boulevard and West Davis Street, provides a case study in the urban design failings of CVS.
FULL STORY: CVS commits urban malpractice with generic store designs that poison neighborhoods

Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

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

Walmart Announces Nationwide EV Charging Network
The company plans to install electric car chargers at most of its stores by 2030.

New State Study Suggests Homelessness Far Undercounted in New Mexico
An analysis of hospital visit records provided a more accurate count than the annual point-in-time count used by most agencies.

Michigan Bills Would Stiffen Penalties for Deadly Crashes
Proposed state legislation would close a ‘legal gap’ that lets drivers who kill get away with few repercussions.

Report: Bus Ridership Back to 86 Percent of Pre-Covid Levels
Transit ridership around the country was up by 85 percent in all modes in 2024.
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.
City of Moorpark
City of Tustin
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions