The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Participants listening to speakers at a Transit Rally outside the Downtown Berkeley BART station.

Bay Area transit tax proposal headed to November ballot

Supporters of a proposed sales tax that would shore up the Bay Area's transit agencies garnered over 300,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot.

May 28 - KQED

Ocotillo plants in a Southern California desert landscape with white wind turbine in background.

NASA tests lunar rover in California desert

The Plaster City Open Area offers a fitting simulacrum of the Mars landscape.

May 28 - Imperial Valley Press

Wood-frame three-story building under construction.

New Maryland housing laws protect developers from mid-project rule changes, encourage TOD

The laws allow developers to withhold certain fee payments from cities and counties until projects are underway to prevent delays due to code changes.

May 28 - Maryland Matters

People with luggage on train platform next to silver Amtrak train in Selma, North Carolina.

Rail advocates: BUILD America 250 Act could slash railway funding by 80%

Leaving rail funding up to annual appropriations threatens to drastically limit its reliability and effectiveness.

May 28 - Streetsblog USA

People walking on Santa Monica Pier boardwalk with Ferris wheel visible close to shore on sunny day.

LA County's 'Beach Bus' offers $6 round-trip rides from inland LA to the beach

The annual summer service shuttles residents from eastside communities to Santa Monica.

May 27 - Secret Los Angeles


Crowd of people standing on paved path under large trees waits for shuttle buses in Yosemite National Park.

Yosemite crowds wait hours to enter park after NPS ends reservation system

Bumper-to-bumper traffic and a lack of parking foreshadowed a potentially chaotic summer.

May 27 - ABC 7

Downtown Denver, Colorado on a sunny day.

Denver starts using AI to speed up housing permits

The CivCheck platform is designed to flag missing or incomplete application items and reduce the time it takes for applications to get approved.

May 27 - Route Fifty


Red brick high-rise public housing buildings in Queens, New York City.

NYC mayor announces plan to repair, restore and build new public housing

Roughly 300,000 New Yorkers live in the city's public housing system.

May 27 - The New York Times

Close-up on utility pole with EV charger cable running out of it to dark-colored car plugged into it.

DC light poles will soon charge your electric car

The city awarded three grants to companies that will install more publicly available EV chargers.

May 27 - ABC 7

Two-story home or multifamily housing with large windows under construction in front of mature green trees.

New HUD guidelines call for nixing green building requirements

The newly released 'best practices' advise local governments to streamline permitting processes, cap permitting fees and encourage by-right development of single-family homes.

May 26 - Smart Cities Dive

A beaver in water holding a stick in its mouth.

Two years after California reintroduced beavers, they are transforming the landscape into a 'climate-resilient powerhouse'

A beaver restoration program is proving that ancient solutions can help solve modern problems.

May 26 - Upworthy

Rancho Seco Nuclear Power Plant cooling towers above solar panels plant.

What data center host communities can learn from former nuclear hubs

The sometimes painful process of decommissioning former nuclear facilities offers useful lessons for communities planning to host data centers.

May 26 - The Daily Yonder

One-story beige home with large cactus in front yard with For Sale sign near sidewalk in Phoenix, Arizona.

Phoenix, Tampa top list of housing markets with the most price cuts

Nearly a third of Phoenix homes for sale had price cuts last April.

May 26 - Fox Business

Man in rain gear rides a bicycle on a bike lane lined with grassy landscaping in Cardiff, Wales on a rainy day.

This UK city's bike lanes double as rain gardens and wildlife habitats

Cardiff is combining mobility infrastructure with greening measures to help conserve water, clean the air, and provide shade and greenery.

May 26 - Bloomberg CityLab

Close-up on group of people using large paper on a table and sticky notes to brainstorm.

BLOG POST

Getting started with AI, part 2: What some planners are actually saying

Five practicing planners offer their advice for diving — cautiously — into using AI in their day-to-day work.

May 26 - Tom Sanchez

Row of offshore wind turbines in ocean with helicopter flying above.

California presses forward on offshore wind

The state is taking steps to prepare its grid and port infrastructure for offshore wind projects despite the federal government's pushback on the technology.

May 25 - Los Angeles Times

A tiny home in a Portland community with a solar panel on the roof.

Portland's clean energy fund has generated $1 billion for climate action

Since 2019, the city has levied a 1% sales tax on large corporations to support climate resilience and clean energy projects.

May 25 - Oregon Public Broadcasting

Crowd in front of AT&T stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Dallas area transit prepares for World Cup, asks locals to drive

DART is adding a special shuttle service and creating back-up mechanisms to ensure it can serve all of this summer's World Cup attendees.

May 25 - Governing

Worker in orange vest installing plastic bike lane separator as man rides past on bicycle in background.

Philadelphia adds new safety measures to 13th Street bike lane

The city is piloting plastic, modular bike lane separators that buffer cyclists from the adjacent vehicle lane.

May 25 - Philly Voice

Silver car parked at gas station with gas pump fueling it with no owner there.

Analysis: Suspending the gas tax wouldn't save Americans much on gas this summer

Even if Congress approves a proposal to temporarily lift the federal gas tax, a variety of other factors and transportation and processing delays would mean American consumers would see little difference at the pump.

May 25 - Mother Jones

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.