The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Highway Widening

Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Maryland's Big Highway Widening Project Released

The state of Maryland is moving forward with a highway widening plan that would spend $11 billion in a private-partnership to add toll lanes to two Capital Beltway highways.

July 15 - DCist

Down Payment

U.S. Mortgage Delinquencies Spike

The popularity of the mortgage forbearance program enabled by the CARES Act is one reason not to fear a housing crash like the Great Recession, yet.

July 15 - The Washington Post

New York City Traffic Cop

Federal Inaction Delays Congestion Pricing by at Least a Year in New York City

Bad news for one of the most innovative transportation planning schemes in the country, with long-term impacts on planning and construction in New York City.

July 15 - New York Daily News

London Bridge

London to Replace 2,000 Car Parking Spots With Bike Storage

London announced another sweeping round of changes to its transportation priority, further cementing the future of active transportation both during and after the pandemic.

July 15 - Forbes

Police Enfocement

Berkeley City Council Considers Relieving Police From Traffic Stop Duties

Unarmed public works officials could replace Berkeley Police officers in monitoring minor traffic violations pending approval of a proposal to be considered by the Berkeley City Council.

July 14 - The New York Times


Coronavirus Protest

California Rolls Back

The nation's most significant rollback to date of a state reopening plan occurred Monday when California Gov. Gavin Newsom closed seven categories of indoor businesses statewide and an additional six categories of indoor operations in 31 counties.

July 14 - San Francisco Chronicle

African American

New Homes Selling Like Hotcakes

New homes, located mostly on the fringe of developed areas, are selling at a torrid pace this summer.

July 14 - CNBC


Choice Neighborhoods

Lawyers Connect Breonna Taylor's Murder to Choice Neighborhoods Initiative in Louisville

The lawyers for Breonna Taylor accuse police in Louisville of acting on behalf of a redevelopment plan led by the city with funding support from the federal government.

July 14 - Louisville Courier Journal

Coronavirus

'Metro Recovery Index' Measures the Impact of the Pandemic and the Trajectory of the Recovery

Brookings has released a new tool for measuring the impact of the coronavirus on local economies across the country, as well as the effectiveness of economic recovery efforts.

July 14 - Brookings

COVID-19

Resurgence Delayed—or a Pandemic Exodus?

In this interview with Emily Badger of the New York Times, Natalie Moore of WBEZ Chicago, and Amanda Kolson Hurley of Bloomberg Businessweek, Slate's Henry Grabar asks about the future viability of America's cities and suburbs in a time of COVID-19

July 14 - Slate

Bus Lane

More Bus Lanes Coming to the Nation's Capital

Three new stretches of street will prioritize bus traffic in Washington, D.C. in the name of faster service and social distancing.

July 14 - DCist

New York City Subway

New Model for Federal Funding Needed for Emergency Public Transit Funding

The federal funding for public transit systems created by the CARES Act followed the normal federal funding formulas, which don't adequately respond to the realities of the pandemic, according to TransitCenter.

July 14 - TransitCenter

Florida Retirement Community

FEATURE

The Stage for Trump's Racist Tweet: The Villages, Florida

The Villages is one of the strangest, and most significant, planning and development stories in recent memory—with surprisingly regular relevance in the media and numerous intersections to politics and culture.

July 13 - James Brasuell

Los Angeles in 1939, as determined by the  Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC).

Lessons From Decades of Racist Land Policy

President and CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Dr. George McCarthy traces the legacy of racist policy and offers guidance toward an economic recovery that begins to undo systemic racism.

July 13 - Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

Berkeley Hills Bay Area

Groundbreaking Affordable Housing and Homeless Shelter Project Underway in Berkeley

A new Berkeley development, the largest affordable housing development in city history, is slated to house 200 low-income and homeless residents by May 2022.

July 13 - The Mercury News

High Speed Rail California

New Environmental Analysis for High-Speed Rail from San Francisco to San Jose

Issues of track blending and electrification factor heavily in the latest environmental impact report and environmental impact statement released last week for the California High-Speed Rail project.

July 13 - California High-Speed Rail Authority

2016 Presidential Election

Floridians File Lawsuit to Protect Jacksonville from the GOP

A public nuisance lawsuit filed July 8 aims to ensure that an unsafe indoor mass gathering like President Trump held in Tulsa last month, which reportedly led to coronavirus infections, does not occur during the Republican National Convention.

July 13 - WJCT News

I-94 North-South Project

New Governor, Same Billion Dollar Freeway Expansion Plan

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is picking up a plan previously championed and abandoned by former Gov. Scott Walker: The North-South expansion of I-94 west of Milwaukee.

July 13 - Wisconsin Public Radio

Ocean Drive Open Streets

Cars Retake Their Place on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach

Ocean Drive in South Beach is the site of an ongoing pilot project in making space for pedestrians and businesses in space previously devoted to cars. Advocates and some local politicians don't like the direction that the experiment is headed.

July 13 - Miami Herald

Columbia University Athletics

A New Generation of Community-Led Planning in New York

With a benchmark success in demanding rights for the community during an ongoing rezoning process in Inwood, a neighborhood in Manhattan, a new generation of community-led resistance to top-down planning is coalescing in New York City.

July 13 - Yes!

Post News
Professor of Urban Planning

Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Transportation Planner I

KFH Group Inc.

Director, Strategy and Research

Greater Baltimore Committee

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.

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.