The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Willamette River

Widening Portland's Freeways

The state of Oregon is looking to use a gas tax increase to, among other things, fund a billion-dollars worth of highway-widening projects.

April 27 - City Observatory

Detroit Vacant

Bad Bets on Detroit Housing Speculation

When investors from Belgium and elsewhere snapped up Detroit houses for a song, some of them didn't consider the full picture. The lesson: do your research, and maybe don't invest thousands of miles form home.

April 27 - Detroit Free Press

Chicago's Wabash Lights Concept Could Expand

An art instillation of colorful LED lights hanging under the L on Wabash looks to grow.

April 27 - Curbed

Boston Seaport

Op-Ed: Cities Still Subsidize Everyone Else

Donald Trump rode waves of anti-urban sentiment to the White House. But is some city smugness forgivable if urban economies subsidize rural places?

April 26 - The Boston Globe

Ocean Grove Sidewalk

What Would Delivery Robots Mean for Public Space?

If companies like Startship and Marble get their way, sidewalks will play host to hundreds of rolling delivery bots. It's one solution to "last-mile" logistics, but are pedestrians prepared to give way?

April 26 - The Guardian


Downtown North Little Rock

Hidden Racial Tensions in 'Sundown Towns'

Some use the phrase to refer to Midwest towns where black people "aren't welcome after dark." A legacy of racial persecution has left majority-white places where black people feel their outlier status.

April 26 - Christian Science Monitor

McMansion

Housing Assistance for the Rich

The federal government forgoes around $90 billion a year in revenue for the home interest rate deduction, and the biggest beneficiaries are millionaires.

April 26 - Greater Greater Washington


Griffith Park

BLOG POST

Planning and Zoning for Growth: A Few Lessons from Los Angeles

C.J. Gabbe guest blogs about a recent article in the Journal of Planning Education and Research.

April 26 - JPER

Kayaking

Rhetoric Over Public Lands Heating Up in Washington, D.C.

As the Outdoor Industry Association gathered for its annual advocacy trip to Washington, D.C., the industry is marshaling its resources for an expected political battle with the Trump Administration.

April 26 - The Denver Post

New Fleet of Self-Driving Cars Offer Rides for Families in Phoenix

Alphabet, Inc's self-driving car wing, Waymo, announced a new program offering free rides in self-driving cars to families in Phoenix.

April 26 - The Washington Post

Debating Los Angeles' Proposed Affordable Housing Development Fee

A proposed affordable housing development fee has inspired a debate about how far developments fees can go in generating funds for affordable housing before they finally stop development altogether.

April 26 - KPCC

Amazon Warehouse

Debating the Role of Amazon Delivery Service in the Future Built Environment

The team at Strong Towns is taking an in-depth look at Amazon, with a week of events, including the point-counterpoint series shared here.

April 26 - Strong Towns

United Nations Taking First Steps Toward the New Urban Agenda

Some of the big work left undone by the Habitat III summit in finalizing the New Urban Agenda in December is now moving forward. The future of the New Urban Agenda and UN-Habitat can now start to take shape.

April 26 - Citiscope

Harlem River

Rezoning Coming to East Harlem

New York City has commenced a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) in the neighborhood of East Harlem. This would be the second rezoning toward Mayor de Blasio's goal for 15 rezonings.

April 25 - The Real Deal

Google Headquarters

Report: Bay Area Needs More Transit Oriented Companies

The irony isn't lost on the authors of a new report by SPUR: Bay Area companies committed to technology innovation obstinately rely on traditional and inefficient commutes in automobiles.

April 25 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Construction

Canadian Lumber Tariff Expected to Raise Home-Building Costs

Home buyers are likely to pay the cost of a recent decision by the U.S. Commerce Department.

April 25 - The New York Times

Multi-Family Housing

Dallas-Fort Worth Leads the Nation in Multi-Family Residential Construction

The Dallas-Fort Worth region is building multi-family housing a lot faster than anywhere else in the country, according to a recent report.

April 25 - Dallas News

When Environmental Goals Collide

Using the movie titled "When Worlds Collide" as a metaphor, environmental attorney Richard Opper describes how environmental regulations can get in their own way to defeat density and infill development—and NIMBYs are not just residents.

April 25 - UrbDeZine

Downtown Buffalo

Will a Rail Expansion Proposal in Buffalo Have Better Luck This Time?

The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority would like to expand its 6.4-mile Metro rail line. It's an idea that failed before, due to outcry from the public. Has the public changed enough to allow this change to come to the region?

April 25 - The Buffalo News

No Loitering

MARTA's 'Carmageddon' Transit Ridership Strategy: More Parking Spaces

Parking lots at MARTA stations have been filling up quickly as Atlantans adjust to their commutes without I-85, after the major freeway collapsed earlier this week.

April 25 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Post News

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

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The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

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

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

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.