The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
The Scary, Likely Event of the 'Really Big One' in the Pacific Northwest
Forget Hollywood's proclivity for destroying Los Angeles and San Francisco in movies like San Andreas—the greatest seismic threat in North America is in the Pacific Northwest.
Parking, Density, and Affordable Housing in California
A bill to reduce parking minimums for residential or mixed-use developments that include affordable units passed a key Senate committee. AB 744 amends the state's density bonus law, itself controversial, that incentivizes building affordable housing.
Study: Public Transit Provides Significant and Diverse Benefits
A new Mineta Transportation Institute study finds significant, measurable net benefits from U.S. public transit services.
Op-Ed: Infrastructure First, Redevelopment Second for Staten Island
With big plans come big responsibilities. Will a massive wave of development investment headed for Staten Island be met with a commensurate investment in infrastructure?
A Case Study of Displacement in Suburban Marietta, Georgia
An article in City Observatory's City Commentary sheds light on an underreported fact of life in some parts of the country: suburban displacement.
Cornell Tech's Trailblazing Passive-House Residential Tower Breaks Ground
Construction has begun on the world’s first residential high-rise to meet Passive House standards: a dorm tower on Cornell Tech’s much-anticipated Roosevelt Island campus in New York City.
21,000 Miles Later: The History of Rails-to-Trails
CityLab presents a feature extravaganza about the nation's 21,000-mile-long network of trails converted from former rail lines.
President Obama Designates Three New National Monuments
President Barack Obama once again called upon the Antiquities Act to further his legacy as a champion of public lands. A famous example of land art will gain protection under the action.
Details of Baltimore's Zoning Code Rewrite
A zoning code makeover is awaiting City Council approval in Baltimore. The proposed changes would help the city evolve from its industrial legacy.
Open Streets Events Enjoy Coast-to-Coast Popularity
New York City and San Jose have expanded or added rules that temporarily close some of their streets to automobile traffic. This continues a string of successes for the open streets movement.
Tetris and the Challenge of Curbing Chinese Sprawl
In theory, sprawl can be limited by good planning. In practice, sprawl is an exceedingly challenging phenomenon to stop. This post looks at the systemic challenges of stopping sprawl in mainland China.
Doomed Suburbs
Alana Semuels describes the structural forces that had led Cincinnati's Lincoln Heights neighborhood to the brink of extinction.
New Mapping Tools Shows How to Access Activities by Various Modes
The Urban Accessibility Explorer is an easy-to-use mapping system that measures the number of activities that can be reached by residents of specified neighborhoods within a given amount of travel time, by a particular mode and time of day.
Op-Ed Critiques the Pro-Density Arguments of Denver Planners
A Denver Post op-ed critiques the arguments employed to make the case for density in Denver.
BLOG POST
Public Art and the Urban Experience
A retrospective of a billboard art exhibition at the 2013 Biennial of the Americas on the occasion of the 2015 Biennial's kick-off implicates an excellent model of citizen engagement and possibly some lessons for civic leaders and urban planners.
West Virginia Communities Respond to a Growing Number of Food Deserts
Communities in West Virginia are organizing and working to fill their needs for healthy, fresh food as grocery stores in the region close.
FEATURE
CEQA Reform: The Public Health Community Is Cheering Too
An op-ed describing the public health benefits of CEQA reform and urging California's leaders to finalize the end of "Level of Service" as a measure of project impacts.
Miami-Dade Could Overhaul Governance of Transportation Projects
Recent controversies have inspired county and city officials in Miami-Dade County looking to overhaul the process by which transportation projects are planned, approved, and funded.
BLOG POST
Are Foreigners to Blame for High Housing Prices?
One common argument against allowing new housing in popular cities is that as long as rich foreigners use up the housing supply prices will never go down.
Can Seattle Solve the Affordable Housing Crisis With Zoning?
Seattle returns to zoning as a tool to promote the construction of affordable housing.
Tyler Technologies
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
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.
