The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Flooding Provides a Scare for Chicago's Two New Public Spaces
The damage could have been a lot worse, but surely flooding that temporarily closed down the Chicago Riverwalk and The 606 elevated bikeway will require additional evaluation by project planners and engineers.
10-Mile Bus Rapid Transit System Planned in Albuquerque
Albuquerque is working on a multi-modal reconfiguration of the old Route 66.
Kentucky Planners Against the Proliferation of LED Billboards
An op-ed from the Kentucky state chapter of the American Planning Association takes a strong stance against regulations that could allow the permitting of LED billboards along highways.
BLOG POST
How Cities Grow Big; Not How Big Cities Grow!
Can cities stop growth? is there an ideal size for a city-region? What really matters is HOW a city grows big, not how big a city grows. Design matters. When people suggest a city is getting too big, shift the conversation from quantity to quality.
Responsible Tourism
Communities across America are competing for tourist dollars, but what can they do to stand out from the crowd? Ed McMahon shares ten principles to "preserve the goose that lays the golden egg."
Legislation to Decimate the Federal Gas Tax Resurfaces
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has reintroduced a bill to cut the federal gas tax by 80 percent and give transportation authority to states, known as devolution. Also, House Transportation Chair Bill Shuster is promoting repatriation as a funding source.
Ahead of Schedule: Detroit Wrapping Up Installation of 40,000 LED Streetlights
In perhaps the brightest sign yet of recovery, the Detroit Public Lighting Authority has made incredible progress on a project to install 40,000 LED streetlights around the city's residential neighborhoods.
State Supreme Court: Development Can Block Views of the Brooklyn Bridge
In a tale as old as New York City, residents are upset that a development project, already underway in Brooklyn, will block view of the Brooklyn Bridge from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.
Study Measures Street Connectivity for Evidence of Sprawl's Decline
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds evidence of the decline of sprawl as the dominant form of construction in the United States and attracted lots of media attention in the process.
FEATURE
Book Review: 'City by City'
A Planetizen review of "City by City: Dispatches from the American Metropolis," edited by Keith Gessen and Stephen Squibb, finds too much to fault in the book's essay about Los Angeles.
California State Supreme Court Upholds Inclusionary Zoning Laws
The California Building Industry Association (BIA) had taken its case to the State Supreme Court, but in the end the court decided that municipalities could require developers to set aide a portion of units for affordable housing.
Mo' Money, Mo' Problems: Community Edition
Do we ever reach a point as a community wherein our problems are behind us? Sorry, but no. If anything, it gets more complicated.
Seattle Confronts Its Transportation Bottleneck
By some measures, Seattle's geography makes other cramped cities like Boston and San Francisco seem positively agoraphobic. New Transportation Director Scott Kubly has vowed to keep Seattleites moving through its many bottlenecks.
Lack of Data Still Impedes Multi-Modal Trip Navigation
A call for all transportation agencies to open their data.
The End of the Illiana Expressway Is Nigh
According to a recent op-ed, the Illiana Expressway "was built upon faulty assumptions, and motivated largely by crony intentions."
Governing Profiles Charles Marohn's Message on Transportation Funding
An article for Governing profiles the method and message of Charles Marohn, known to Planetizen readers as the name behind the Strong Towns blog.
United Nations Agreement Takes Action Against Deforestation
In a mover that came to a surprise to United Nations observers, the international body reached agreement on the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, or REDD+, initiative.
HUD's 'Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing' Provokes Controversy in Congress
A rule proposed by the Obama Administration has been criticized for attempting to build an "unrealistic utopia." The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing would require cities to fund affordable housing in a broader spectrum of neighborhoods.
Residents Want a Say as Los Angeles Neighborhood Changes
The big market forces of Los Angeles long ignored Elysian Valley, colloquially called Frogtown. But now the neighborhood has hip cachet and residents are organizing to have a say as the area changes.
Michigan House Road Funding Plan B Would Rob Peter to Pay Paul
Now that voters have decisively rejected a sales tax measure that would have also hiked the gas tax, House representatives have proposed eliminating the state's Earned Income Tax Credit that benefits the working poor to help pay for roads.
City of Clovis
City of Moorpark
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
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.
