The Pew Research Center digs into a question of definitions, fraught with exceptions and subjectivity.

Ruth Igielnik Wieder shares the results of a survey and analysis intended to determine more about the defining characteristics of urban, suburban, and rural communities in the United States.
As a new approach to the question of how to tell these types of communities apart, the team at the Pew Research Center took the additional step of surveying residents to compare public perception to outside sources of classification, two from the government and one based on ZIP codes. The government sources included 1) the National Center for Health Studies Urban-Rural Classification Scheme and 2) the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service’s Rural-Urban Continuum County Classification. The ZIP Code measure included two factors: "the distance from the ZIP code to the center of the largest principal city in the nearest metro area (as measured by distance to the city hall) and the household density in the ZIP code."
According to Wilder, the comparisons between those three measures and the findings of the survey reveal a few patterns: "All three methods most accurately classified rural Americans and did less well with Americans in urban and suburban areas. And while all the measures performed relatively well overall, the decision tree most closely matched self-reports across all three community types."
As for which metric turned out to be the most useful, in the opinion of researchers: the self-reported assessment.
FULL STORY: Evaluating what makes a U.S. community urban, suburban or rural

Trump Administration Could Effectively End Housing Voucher Program
Federal officials are eyeing major cuts to the Section 8 program that helps millions of low-income households pay rent.

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

Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series
The Jeopardy champ wants you to ride public transit.

Driving Equity and Clean Air: California Invests in Greener School Transportation
California has awarded $500 million to fund 1,000 zero-emission school buses and chargers for educational agencies as part of its effort to reduce pollution, improve student health, and accelerate the transition to clean transportation.

Congress Moves to End Reconnecting Communities and Related Grants
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee moved to rescind funding for the Neighborhood Equity and Access program, which funds highway removals, freeway caps, transit projects, pedestrian infrastructure, and more.

From Throughway to Public Space: Taking Back the American Street
How the Covid-19 pandemic taught us new ways to reclaim city streets from cars.
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