An ambitious and innovative infrastructure program can multiply benefits for cities willing to take bold steps.
Kathryn Firth writes an op-ed for Next City:
[A]s conversations continue about the need for a Green New Deal and overdue upgrades to the nation’s infrastructure, we also have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the role that infrastructure can serve in cities. Infrastructure should be conceived as a community asset, both providing equitable new public space and contributing to the beauty of cities, at a time where pressure on urban land is at a premium and civic pride often waning.
Firth, urban design director at NBBJ, cites Victorian Era London as an example of society that took advantage of a similar opportunity—same with the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s and 40s in the United States.
As to how the United States, at the dawn of the 2020s, can achieve similar successes in repositioning the role of infrastructure in cities, Firth suggests several strategies, such as celebrating the utilitarian, balancing safety and security with public access, creating productive tension, getting creative with budgets, and engaging the community.
Read the full story: Formerly Hidden, Beautiful Infrastructure is Now Back in the Limelight
Has the Rug Been Pulled Out From Under Environmentalists?
Robinson Meyer, a climate reporter for The Atlantic, writes about the awkward place American environmentalists find themselves due in part to the war in Europe that has created an international energy crisis and historically high fuel prices at home.
Resiliency Hubs Help Baltimore Plan for Climate Emergency
The Green New Deal for Cities, a bill introduced in April by reps. Cori Bush (D-MO) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), includes among the list of projects eligible for funding those that "build capacity for communities to endure extreme weather."
The World's Economic Bailout Came With Huge Environmental Costs
The world collectively spent on $17 trillion economic stimulus during the pandemic. The vast majority of that spending will make climate change and other environmental pollution much worse.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
Northwest rail fans eager for Sept. 30 debut of Amtrak’s Airo fleet
Get ready for that new train smell and more seats. But they won’t go faster or run more frequently on the Cascades route in Washington and Oregon.
St. Louis Metro to test if single-car trains can reduce operating costs, maintain rider satisfaction
The pilot program will run from October to spring 2027, and begin with one single-car train operating on Metrolink’s Red and Blue lines.
Pennsylvania is building data centers in abandoned mines
Housing data centers in mines provides an alternative to destroying local forests and may spare residents from data centers’ noise and air pollution.
If Corpus Christi can’t revive desalination plant project, it may owe Texas $235 million
Earlier this month, city officials declined to pursue developing the plant for the second time in a year.
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 Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello