The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Carribean

Florida Prepares for Irma: Building Codes, Cranes, Evacuation, Storm Surge

As Irma leaves the Caribbean and heads for Florida, with landfall expected this weekend, there is a lot to worry about: New building codes will be put to test, fuel to evacuate is in short supply, and cranes have not been dismantled.

September 8 - The New York Times

Satellite PIcture of Hurricane Sandy

Mapping the Paths of Hurricanes Recorded Since 1851

All yesterday's hurricanes.

September 8 - CityLab

United Nations Flags

Making the UN's Sustainable Development Goals Great Again

The United Nations' ambitious set of goals have proven unwieldy, with some commentators saying they represent "all things to all people." Reorganizing and prioritizing them could help.

September 8 - Pacific Standard

Michigan Map

Community Mapping Project Pays Off in More Ways Than One for Flint

The community's hard work has helped Flint planners take an inventory of its building stock, as well as secure needed funding from the federal government.

September 8 - Center for Community Progress

Mt. Hood and Traffic

Op-Ed: What Oregon's DOT Gets Wrong on Roadway Safety

Faced with an uptick in roadway fatalities, Oregon is looking at how to increase safety. But it's concentrating on highways while arterials actually account for the region's most severe crashes.

September 8 - City Observatory


Homeless Encampment

Spokane Rolls Out New Homeless Camping Deterrent

The city of Spokane is piling large boulders where homeless people used to sleep. Critics are calling the city's actions inhumane.

September 8 - KUOW

Downtown Flint Michigan along Saginaw Street

Strategies for Revitalizing Smaller Post-Industrial Cities

For every Pittsburgh or Cleveland success story, there's a story waiting to be told in smaller cities like Gary and Lowell.

September 8 - At Lincoln House


A Hurricane Response Lesson: Disrupt the Cycle of Futility

How do we disrupt the cycle of rebuilding things exactly as they were before—if slightly hardened—after increasingly powerful weather events?

September 8 - PlaceShakers

Electric Car Charging

First 'Smart Cities' Grant-Enabled Hardware Online in Columbus

Columbus has spent the first year since its selection as the $50 million Smart Cities Challenge grant recipient devoted to planning and research. The grant has also proven a very enticing fundraising tool.

September 8 - Columbus Business First

Nova Victoria

Friday Funny: Meet the Winner of the 2017 'Carbuncle Cup' for the U.K.'s Ugliest New Building

Building Design (BD) a British architecture publication, has announced the "winner" of the competition to decide the ugliest new building of the year.

September 8 - Building Design

Both Ways

Ford Coins a New Term to Protect Cars from Pedestrians: 'Petextrians'

The Ford Motor Company picks a side in the traffic safety debate.

September 7 - Ford

BART Map

A Decade-Plus in the Making—Transit Village Comes to a Posh Bay Area Suburb

The city of Walnut Creek, located in the East San Francisco Bay Area, will soon gain 600 new, transit-adjacent apartments and a whole lot of parking.

September 7 - The Mercury News

Better Block Earns Rave Reviews in Akron

A Better Block installation took over the streets of Kenmoore in Akron, Ohio last weekend.

September 7 - Akron Beacon Journal

Washington D.C.

Mass Exodus Underway at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Since the beginning of September, 400 employees have left the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The reduced staffing levels are by design.

September 7 - The Scientist

Columbia River Gorge Fire

Columbia River Gorge Resilient After the 30,000-acre Eagle Creek Fire

Good fire news from Oregon offers some relief from several weeks of scary environmental news from around the country.

September 7 - Willamette Week

1984 Olympics

L.A. Olympic Organizers Say CEQA Exemption Isn't Necessary to Streamline Transit Projects

The strange world projects exempted from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act got a little stranger this week.

September 7 - Los Angeles Times

Rosa Parks, Jane Jacobs, Frederick Law Olmsted

FEATURE

Vote for the Most Influential Urbanists

After accepting nearly 200 nominees for consideration, we're asking for votes to determine the "Most Influential Urbanists" of all time.

September 7 - Planetizen

Detroit Bridge

Canadian Government Permits Another Privately Owned Bridge From Detroit

Soon there could be a second cable-stayed bridge connecting Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Canada, running alongside the existing Ambassador Bridge and owned by the same private entity.

September 7 - Detroit Free Press

Texas Wind

Rural U.S. Turning On to Wind Power

Rural counties and cities around the United States are figuring out that it pays to do business with renewable energy companies.

September 7 - The Wall Street Journal

Buffalo, New York

5 Beloved Architectural Creations Lost to History

If you could bring one building back from the wrecking balls of the past, what would it be?

September 7 - The Conversation

Post News
Senior Planner

City of Thousand Oaks

Community Development Director

City of Wisconsin Rapids

Professor of Urban Planning

Harvard University Graduate School of Design

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.