The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
To Connect Oakland—Remove the I-980 Freeway
A grassroots, ambitious vision called Connect Oakland is gaining steam in the East Bay city. The key element of the plan's ambition: replacing the I-980 Freeway with an urban boulevard and new housing.
Philadelphia Alleys Ranked for Makeover
In advance of what may be a wider program, Philadelphia's alleys have been ranked for their aesthetic quality. Those in the "average" range are most suitable for retrofits.
Melting Pots and Shrinking Islands
Brooklyn-based artist Ekene Ijeoma newest piece shows what parts of New York City are affordable to different people across the spectrum of salaries in the form of crystalline islands called "wage islands."
FEATURE
Building for Resilience Makes (Good Business) Sense
The Urban Land Institute (ULI) is showing developers how resilience can benefit the bottom line in the "Returns on Resilience" report. Sarene Marshall, director of the ULI Center for Sustainability, offers insight into the report's examples.
Reactions to Cleveland's Backwards Bike Lane
A photo of a "backwards" buffered bike lane in Cleveland prompts commentary from the planning community. What is gained by separating bike lane and curb?
Microsoft, City of Bellevue Developing Tech to Predict—and Prevent—Bike Crashes
If it's successful, a public-private partnership between Microsoft and the city of Bellevue, Washington could produce Minority Report-style predicative capabilities to prevent bike crashes.
Critics Find Diversity Setbacks in New Planning Accreditation Board Standards
The Planning Accreditation Board, the body tasked with the accreditation process of planning programs at both the graduate and undergraduate level, will update its standards over the next month.
Anaheim, Home to Disneyland, Proving Popular for Short-Term Rentals
Anaheim is struggling to keep up with a glut of houses in residential neighborhoods being used as short-term rentals catering to Disneyland's crowds. The city is profiting, but neighborhoods, perhaps, are not.
On the Effect of Houston's Loose Land Use Regulations
A conversation with an architect yields insight into how Houston's pride in the lack of traditional land use regulation mechanisms has created the city as it exists today.
High Hopes for a Renovated Vernon Park in Philadelphia
A once-neglected park is at the center of efforts to breathe new life into Germantown's business district.
Google Bus Opponents Argue Need for CEQA Study in San Francisco Superior Court
On Friday, tech bus opponents took their case to court, arguing that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency must comply with the California Environmental Quality Act due to impacts including air quality and community displacement.
Berlin Moves To Protect, Expand Affordable Housing
Berlin's Senate has approved a sweeping reform of the city's housing policy, limiting rents on close to 400,000 public housing units to no more than 30 percent of a household income.
Wisconsin Goes Deeper in the Fiscal Hole to Fix Aging Roads
Wisconsin legislators have voted to continue steep borrowing to pay for needed road repairs, while calls to increase the state’s gas tax grow louder.
Can California Kick the Oil Habit?
As the nation's third largest oil producer, California has a long history with the oil industry, yet it's also the birthplace of the American environmental movement. Lisa Margonelli makes the case for the Golden State reducing its oil addiction.
Pennsylvania Launches 'Rapid Bridge Project' to Rebuild 558 Bridges in Three Years
Faced with more than 4,000 structurally deficient bridges, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has an innovative repair plan.
Guidebook: Lowering Barriers to Urban Farming
Urban agriculture has long been a staple of sustainable urbanism—in theory. Can policy changes help it become much more than that? This guidebook offers tactics and policies that planners can use to promote urban farms.
The Time the Google Self-Driving Car Got Pulled Over for Driving Too Slowly
Google's response to its self-driving car getting pulled over by police in California: " "Driving too slowly? Bet humans don't get pulled over for that too often."
Why It's So Hard to Tell When a New York Train Will Arrive
The Atlantic has deep and detailed coverage of the expensive, obsolete, and decaying technology used by the New York subway system.
On the Life Cycle of Suburban Malls
Using Greenwood, Indiana as an example, Eric McAfee discusses how the value of individual suburban malls depreciates over time. Shiny new shopping centers compensate for inevitable vacancies in older ones.
Op-Ed: Over-Regulation Makes Public Spaces Exclusionary
A pointed editorial decries the over-regulation that has followed the renaissance of public spaces in Los Angeles.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie
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