Students from Beverly Hills staged a high-visibility "walkout" to protest L.A. Metro's extension of the Purple Line subway past Beverly Hills High School.

On Friday, Laura J. Nelson writes, "hundreds of students as young as 8 left their Beverly Hills classrooms and rallied at a public park, protesting Metro's plans to tunnel beneath Beverly Hills High School." L.A. Metro is currently in the process of extending its Purple Line subway from its current terminus in Koreatown through Beverly Hills and into Westwood.
The decision to route through the affluent city has been controversial, with officials from the city and the school district opposing Metro in court for years. "Teenagers who have grown up watching the Beverly Hills Unified School District's fight against Metro said they feared that tunneling beneath the campus could spark a methane explosion because the soil is studded with abandoned oil wells and pockets of methane gas."
But Metro says those risks are overstated. "More than five years of environmental analysis have shown that the subway can be built without risking students’ health, Metro spokesman Dave Sotero said." LA Metro subway lines already run beneath several LA Unified School District campuses.
FULL STORY: Hundreds of Beverly Hills students demand Trump move or defund Metro's Westside subway

New York Governor Advances Housing Plan Amid Stiff Suburban Opposition
Governor Kathy Hochul’s ambitious proposal to create more housing has once again run into a brick wall of opposition in New York’s enormous suburbs, especially on Long Island. This year, however, the wall may have some cracks.

Rethinking the Role of Parking in the American City
In cities big and small, the tide is turning against sprawling parking lots, car-centric development, and minimum parking mandates.

Friday Eye Candy: 20 AI-Generated Cityscapes
AI-generated images are creating new landscapes and cityscapes, capable of inspiring awe or fear.

A Dallas Architect Designs Statement Buildings With a Purpose
The Dallas Morning News’ architecture critic profiles one of the city’s most important current architects.

Biden Designates a New National Monument in West Texas
The Castner Range National Monument in West Texas is the second of two new national monuments announced by President Joe Biden this week.

Study: Autonomous Cars Won’t Solve the Parking Problem
In hyper-dense cities where incentives to reduce car use and eliminate parking are already high, mass adoption of AVs won’t significantly reduce parking demand.
Princeton Planning
City of College Park
Houston-Galveston Area Council
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Spearfish
City of Lomita
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.