The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Owl

How Built Environments Hyper-Activate Evolution

Welcome to a post-human era of biological evolution. Strap on your seat belts.

August 24 - The New York Times

Bay Bridge Toll Traffic

Bad Roads and Bridges Costing California Motorists as Much as $2,800 Annually

The transportation research group, TRIP, tallied costs from additional crashes, higher operating costs, and congestion that result from insufficient investment in California's roads and bridges. A new effort was launched to increase state funding.

August 24 - tripnet.org

Dallas Streetcar

Dallas Planning Light Rail (Which Could Become a Subway) and a Streetcar

Downtown Dallas could have an embarrassment of riches on its hands, if it figures out how to make plans for a Downtown streetcar coordinate well with a new Downtown light rail route.

August 24 - The Dallas Morning News

Suburban Sidewalk

The Politics of Sidewalk Funding

Do cities that make homeowners repair sidewalks subsidize car culture? Or do cities that fund sidewalks subsidize sprawl?

August 24 - CityLab

Moscow, Russia

Moscow's Erratic Shift Towards a Walkable City

Moscow's Mayor has pushed an agenda to beautify the city, create social spaces, and make the city more walkable, but critics see the move towards walkability as more of a forced march.

August 23 - Foreign Policy


Developing Countries Require More Urban Planning Capacity to Meet Growing Needs

How can the Global South implement the New Urban Agenda with colonial-era curricula and little investment in training? Zambia offers a new model.

August 23 - Citiscope

Food Trucks

Minneapolis Grapples with Food Truck Regulations

Downtown property owners are clashing with food truck operators over where the latter should park their businesses.

August 23 - MinnPost


Charlotte, North Carolina

Study: Bad Arterials Poison Good Residential Streets

It's something we feel intuitively: poorly-designed arterial roads make for less comfortable neighborhoods. That remains the case even if the adjoining residential streets are quiet and safe.

August 23 - Streetsblog USA

Shanghai Subway

What's Keeping the U.S. Behind China on Infrastructure Investment?

The problem, Paul Rosenstiel writes, isn't a scarcity of capital. It's an unwillingness to make investing in infrastructure a lucrative choice for private capital.

August 23 - Governing

Eichler

The Silicon Valley Adds Another Single-Story Overlay District

The footprint of the so-called single-story overlay districts is growing in the Silicon Valley.

August 23 - San Jose Mercury News

The Village

Looking to Add More Trees? Mind the 'Sidewalk Gray Zone'

A case study provided by the MillionTreesNYC program offers insight into complicated territorial boundaries that can challenge urban greening projects.

August 23 - DeepRoot

Seattle

Critiquing the Implementation of Seattle's Pedestrian Master Plan

A status update of the Seattle Pedestrian Master Plan leaves a writer wondering if the backlog of pedestrian infrastructure maintenance will grow while only a few planned projects get built.

August 23 - The Urbanist

AirTrain

JFK AirTrain Surprise: Reduced Frequencies

Some inquisitive and interested observers noticed surprising changes to the schedule of the AirTrain, connecting Queens to JFK International Airport.

August 23 - Second Ave. Sagas

The Bronx

Poor Urban Planning and the Birth of Hip Hop

An architect known as the Hip-Hop Architect explains how the planning decisions of the 20th century served as muse and breeding ground for the multi-million-dollar industry of hip hop.

August 23 - Fader

Drinking Water

BLOG POST

Crowdsourcing Clean Drinking Water, Interview with Sean Montgomery

An Interview with Sean Montgomery, the inventor of CitizenSpring, an app that collects and maps data about safe drinking water.

August 22 - Casey Brazeal

Southwest LRT

Minnesota's Southwest Light Rail on its Last Legs

Republicans in Minnesota are ready to put the final nail in the coffin of the proposed Southwest light rail project, which would connect downtown Minneapolis to Eden Prairie.

August 22 - MinnPost

Sacramento

For Sale: Naming Rights to Sacramento-Area Light Rail Stations

Is anybody buying?

August 22 - The Sacramento Bee

LA Oldest Palm Tree

Study Examines the Effect of 'Holdouts' on the Development Patterns of Los Angeles

After building an argument that land assembly is key to reinventing cities for a new era, a new study identifies the impact of the landowners standing in the way of that progress.

August 22 - American Economic Association

Vancouver Waterfront

Vancouver Start-Up Wants You to Bid On Your Rent

The founders of Vancouver-based Biddwell are hoping to change the way landlords and potential tenants find each other, but a renters' advocacy body sees the new company as bad news for tenants in an increasingly tight housing market.

August 22 - The Globe and Mail

Preserving Las Vegas' Midcentury Residential Neighborhoods

In a region infamous for blowing everything up and starting over again, a growing constituency is interested in preserving the residential neighborhoods of yesteryear.

August 22 - Las Vegas Sun

Post News

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

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

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

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.