The city is making more areas open only to pedestrian traffic in Midtown in anticipation of holiday crowds.
According to an NBC News article, New York City plans to bring back and expand its Open Streets program this holiday season to boost local businesses and accommodate traffic to the city’s famous Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and Fifth Avenue shopping district. “Through the holiday season, the city will pedestrianize the streets surrounding Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall, according to city officials. West 49th Street and West 50th Street, between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, will only be open to pedestrians between 11 a.m. and midnight every day.” The program will cover an area 25 percent larger than last year.
“Mayor Eric Adams said that last year's program drove $3 million in spending to businesses in the midtown area along Fifth Avenue and around Rockefeller Center, where streets get closed to all vehicles during certain times.”
Read the full story: NYC expands car-free Open Streets plan for midtown during holiday season
New York Open Streets Shrinking Dramatically
As city funding runs out, the number of miles in open streets projects has dwindled from 83 to just 20.
How Can NYC Keep its 'Open Streets' Post-Pandemic?
A debate over one Queens 'open street' project illustrates the challenges of maintaining open streets.
How to Maintain Open Streets After the Pandemic
With more people getting back in their cars, can pedestrian-oriented open streets survive?
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
US buildings threatened, destroyed by fires set to triple by 2060
Researchers found a high fire risk for socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods in the American West.
LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.
Dallas moves to overhaul its zoning code
The city's zoning reform will allow more multi-family and mixed-use developments.
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 Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority