The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
US Rents Squeezing Low-Income Tenants
Despite a recent — and slowing — apartment construction boom, renters at the lower end of the income scale are still struggling to find housing.
Tech Tools Help Tenants Push Back Against Problematic Landlords
Shelterforce found more than a dozen examples of tenant-serving technology that help renters identify landlords, respond to eviction, fight back against housing discrimination, and more.
More Apartments Are Being Built in Less-Dense Areas
Rising housing costs in urban cores and a demand for rental housing is driving more multifamily development to exurbs and small metros.
Plastic Bag Bans Actually Worked
U.S. coastal areas with plastic bag bans or fees saw significant reductions in plastic bag pollution — but plastic waste as a whole is growing.
Improving Indoor Air Quality, One Block at a Time
A movement to switch to electric appliances at the neighborhood scale is taking off in California.
Opinion: How to Rebuild the ‘Starter Home’ Market
Large minimum lot sizes and restrictions on multi-unit housing put an artificial floor under home costs. Is it time to eliminate them?
How Understanding Near-Misses Can Improve Road Safety
Most road safety efforts are based on data about crashes that have already occurred. But important information can be gleaned from incidents when something almost went wrong, but didn’t.
Cincinnati School District Shifts Students to Public Transit to Cut Costs
Over 10,000 Cincinnati Public Schools students already use public buses for school transportation each year.
Raleigh Pilots App-Based Feedback Program for Accessible Parking
The city is using the program to collect real-time information about accessibility issues and correct them quickly.
Texas Safety Advocates Raise Alarm in Advance of Tesla Robotaxi Launch
The company plans to deploy self-driving taxis in Austin with no oversight from state or local transportation agencies.
How to Fund SF’s Muni Without Cutting Service
Three solutions for bridging the San Francisco transit agency’s budget gap without reducing service for transit-dependent riders.
Austin Tests Self-Driving Bus
Autonomous buses could improve bus yard operations for electric fleets, according to CapMetro.
Missouri Tenants Sue Housing Owners Over Tax Credit Program
In Springfield, Missouri, organized tenants have filed a lawsuit against the past and present owners of their tax credit–financed properties, claiming that in exercising an opt-out provision they violated both state and federal requirements.
Judge Halts Trump Order Tying State Transportation Grants to Immigration Actions
Ruling applies to Colorado, which was among 20 plaintiff states.
New York MTA to Reimagine Subway Bottleneck
Changes proposed in a recently approved five-year plan would resolve a nearly century-old snarl that routinely delays trains.
FEATURE
Cuomo Is the Candidate of Both NIMBYs and Developers. What Gives?
In the New York City mayoral race, odd bedfellows align to preserve the housing status quo.
Southern Californians Survey Trees for Destructive Oak Pest
Hundreds of volunteers across five counties participated in the first Goldspotted Oak Borer Blitz, surveying oak trees for signs of the invasive beetle and contributing valuable data to help protect Southern California’s native woodlands.
Opinion: How Geothermal HVAC Lowers Costs, Improves Grid Resilience
Geothermal heating and cooling systems can reduce energy costs and dramatically improve efficiency.
Tenant Screening: A Billion-Dollar Industry with Little Oversight. What’s Being Done to Protect Renters?
Reports show that the data tenant screening companies use is often riddled with errors and relies on information that has no bearing on whether someone will be a good tenant.
Downtown Portland Ready for Maine's Tallest Building
The city of Portland anticipates a major new urban development addition called the “Old Port Square” project.
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
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.
