The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Parking Strategies for Comprehensive Plans
Parking needs to be balanced with new development that supports active modes of transportation, integrates a complete streets approach, and values a high-quality public realm. Comprehensive plans can help achieve this balance.
Two More Road Diets Erased in Los Angeles
Traffic safety projects, and with it the city of Los Angeles' Vision Zero and Great Streets initiatives, have been dealt disappointing setbacks in recent months.
Up and Running: The Speedy Recovery of Houston's City Hall
Following Hurricane Harvey, Houston's City Hall became flooded with four feet of water, rendering the building's electrical and mechanical equipment useless. Restoring power back to City Hall quickly was crucial in aiding the recovery efforts.
In D.C.: Rent Control Law 1, Short-Term Rentals 0
It's still illegal to convert rental units into short-term rentals that act as a hotel business in Washington, D.C. A high-profile legal settlement will thus send a bumper crop of rental units back to the market.
Utah Policy Makers Want to Push a Toll Hike Higher
Utah's I-15 express lanes are suffering PM peak-hour congestion. The maximum charge is $1 per zone. The Transportation Commission will vote to double it, but the chair of a key legislative committee suggests charging "what the market will bear."
450,000 People Live in Food Deserts in the Cleveland Area
A new map reveals the scale of the food desert challenge in Cleveland and environs.
What Will It Take to Green Puerto Rico Again?
Not only did Hurricane Maria destroy most of Puerto Rico's man-made infrastructure, it also defoliated the island's vast tropical forests, upsetting the forest ecology—in the short term.
Unwalkable U.S.A.
The National Physical Activity Plan Alliance gave the United States an F for walkability because of its lack of pedestrian infrastructure.
Sidewalk Labs to Test its Smart Cities Ideas in Toronto
Sidewalk Labs LLC, a unit of Google's parent company Alphabet Inc., has been awarded a high-profile opportunity to test ideas for "reimagining cities from the Internet up," as its company mantra says. The city of Toronto will be its testing ground.
Study Touts the Public Health Benefits of Dense, Urban Living
A study of British cities find people living in dense urban cores are less likely to struggle with obesity and more likely to exercise—signs of higher quality of life—than their counterparts in suburban environments.
Friday Eye Candy: Denmark's New LEGO House Has Starchitect Pedigree
LEGO fans rejoice! Bjarke Ingels Group has made the LEGO house of your dreams a full-sized reality, and it's stocked full of LEGOs.
Four Ideas to Improve D.C. Buses
It isn't always easy, especially for politicians and engineers, but there are proven ways to save a floundering bus system.
The PlanIt Podcast Explains Historic Preservation
More and more communities are including historic preservation in plan efforts. But what is Historic Preservation and what does planning for it mean? In this episode, John Smoley explains.
New York Has its First Center-Running Bus
It's a small step forward on a portion of the Bx6 bus line in Bronx, but the center-running bus is coming to more corners of New York City soon.
Wisconsin's $1.1 Billion Highway Widening Project on the Ropes
The proposed widening of I-94 in Milwaukee is a $1.1 billion chunk of a $6.4 billion road widening program in the region. The NAACP sued the project as a matter of environmental justice.
Report: Streetcars Were Always for Developers
Streetsblog digs into the literature on streetcars and finds evidence that the transit mode du jour was never intended to benefit transit users.
California's New 'By-Right' Housing Law: Will it Make a Difference?
A new law could enable affordable housing projects, if they meet the specified criteria, to bypass the public process that so often blocks their approval.
Updating the Status of Puerto Rico's Infrastructure in Real Time
A website called status.pr is keeping residents and concerned observers apprised of progress in the recovery of the island's critical infrastructure.
Taco Bell Wants You to Walk, Not Drive, to the Border
Is Taco Bell finally prepared to bring to fruition the future predicted in the 1993 movie Demolition Man?
300,000 Michigan Drivers' Debt Forgiven
Michigan to grant amnesty to 300,000 drivers whose licenses were taken from them because they were too poor to pay the "Driver Responsibility Fee."
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
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.
