The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Pedestrian Accessibility the Key to Buffalo's New Green Code
An op-ed column for The Buffalo News explains the thinking behind Buffalo's new Green Code—especially its benefits for walking, bicycling, and public transit.
Mining the City
Rapid urbanization and climate change will make it harder for cities to provide crucial resources for their citizens. In this article, Arup consultants Amy Leitch and Laura Frost examine how the built environment can fill this emerging need.
Allowing Higher Density to Fix Slums
Despite its economic dynamism, Mumbai is known for a lack of adequate housing. Citywide increases to maximum Floor Space Indices (i.e., Floor Area Ratios) will increase living space per resident, provided the right redevelopment takes place.
The Far-Reaching, Lasting Effects of Low Oil Prices
With SUV sales up, car sales down, and mileage driven up, the effects of lower gas prices could soon extend to land use, making suburban and exurban commuting more affordable. Economists have a term for these effects: demand response.
Where Suburbs Outgrew Core Cities
In some places in the United States, mostly in Florida, some suburban cities have become the big kids on the block.
Dallas: City of Renters
The explosive growth of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area in recent years has mostly gone toward rental housing, and now the area has one of the lowest homeownership rates in the country.
Community Support Lacking for Sound Transit's TOD Plans on Mercer Island
Development connected to a proposed light rail line through Mercer Island—connecting Seattle to the West and Bellevue to the East—has met staunch local opposition.
DDOT's 2015 Goal: Filling Gaps in Bike Infrastructure
The District Department of Transportation's plans for 2015 include closing critical gaps in the District's bike infrastructure network.
Pushing Back on Mayor de Blasio's Ferry Service Idea
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's recently announced an ambitious proposal to expand and extend ferry service around the five boroughs. Although the proposal has inspired support, one blogger offers a strongly dissenting stake.
Worst Droughts in a Millennium Predicted for Western United States
Research uncovers more evidence for possibly decades-long droughts. Climate change is the likely culprit in effects that may challenge infrastructure and agricultural output throughout the century.
Miami's High-Rise Orthodoxy Hides a Better Way
Alastair Gordon lambasts Miami's high-end architectural extremes. A horizontal, nature-inspired urbanism might better address contradictions between breezy luxury and inland poverty.
Re-Zoning For Walkability
It often seems that streetscapes' appearances and forms are immutable, but Los Angeles is trying something new. Through a herculean effort called Recode: LA, Los Angeles is rewriting its codes and, consequently, may change how its streets look.
Planning for Housing on Complicated Queens Rail Yard Continues
The 200-acre operational rail yard is the largest of six affordable housing sites that Mayor Bill de Blasio targeted for development. He hopes to build more than 11,000 units of affordable housing there, but Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is not on board.
What's so Miraculous about Minneapolis?
Minneapolis combines prosperity with plentiful affordable housing, an increasing rarity. Geographical factors play a role, but longstanding "fiscal equalization" policies may make the difference.
Intentional Impermanence: Complete Streets 2.0
Douglas Hausladen, New Haven’s transportation director, envisions building complete streets quickly through a fail-fast approach.
Transportation Start-up Fails for Being Too Public-Minded
Night School, planning to use school bus fleets to supplement late-night Bay Area transit, lost the regulatory fights Uber and Lyft handily won.
Long Island Searching for Direction
Although it hosts some of the nation’s first and most successful auto suburbs, Long Island has experienced a downturn. This infographic-focused piece delves into the reasons why.
Beyond Eternal: Identifying The World's Oldest City
Cities from India to Syria to Hungary can claim to be the world's oldest continually inhabited city, with permanent habitation going back more than 4,000 years. But when the evidence is thousands of years old, the title becomes elusive.
Can the Growing Risk of Human-Made Earthquakes Be Managed?
A new study aims to broaden the understanding of an increasing number of human-caused earthquakes. Fracking might not be entirely to blame.
Op-Ed: Don't Excuse Displacement when Rationalizing Gentrification
A recent article in Washington City Paper pushes back on the notion that the ill effects of gentrification are overblown. Resurgent cities must, according to the article, find ways to achieve the benefits of gentrification—without the displacement.
City of Moorpark
City of Tustin
Tyler Technologies
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Chaddick Institute at DePaul 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.
