The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Urban Population Shrinks After Census Definition Change
The U.S. Census Bureau raised the bar for communities to qualify as urban areas.

Complaint Blames Bay Delta Ecological Crisis on Racism
Advocates hope to enlist the federal government in forcing state regulators to set clean water standards for the San Francisco Bay Delta.

Why California’s Power Lines Take So Long to Build
The years-long permitting process for new transmission lines is slowing the state’s shift to clean energy.

D.C. Nonprofit Aims to Preserve Affordable Housing
A luxury apartment building acquired by the Washington Housing Conservancy will be converted into 212 rent-stabilized housing units for middle-income workers.

The Infrastructure Sector Is Bleeding Workers
With an aging workforce and few new workers entering the sector, cities could find themselves short of the workers needed to build and maintain projects funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Transportation Predictions for 2023
Seventeen transportation experts and professionals weigh in on what they think trends in the sector will look like in 2023.

Five Takeaways From California’s 2022 Demographic Changes
California’s recent population losses could provide an opportunity for state leaders to address the challenges facing the state.

New Short-Term Rental Rules to Take Effect in Philadelphia
The new rules are an attempt to get a handle on the short-term rental industry, which, due in part to little enforcement of existing regulations, has yielded ‘bad actors.’

Op-Ed: New York Needs a Needs a Housing Breakthrough
The region has taken some steps to address the critical housing shortage, but alleviating the crisis requires a more comprehensive, statewide effort to build new housing, increase affordability, and prevent displacement.

Public-Private Partnerships Needed to Create More Parks in Downtown Los Angeles
A new report calls for an increase in public-private partnerships (P3s) to help create and enhance parks projects throughout Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA).

Op-Ed: Let Churches Build Housing
The ‘Yes in God’s Backyard’ movement could get a boost from a proposed bill in the California state legislature.

Jersey City: A Vision Zero Success Story
The city has gone a full year with no traffic deaths while road violence in the rest of the country continues to grow.

New York Subway Surpasses 1 Billion Riders for the First Time Since 2019
There’s still a long way to go for the nation’s busiest transit system to get back to pre-pandemic ridership levels, but New Yorkers crossed at least one symbolic threshold in 2022.

Tesla Banned From Using ‘Full Self-Driving’ Name in California
On the heels of multiple crashes and a federal investigation, a state law bars the company from calling their software Full Self-Driving to avoid misleading consumers about the need for driver assistance.

The Complexity of Homelessness in Los Angeles County
The homeless crisis is complicated and is associated with high housing costs, inadequate shelter spaces, deinstitutionalization, changes in the criminal justice system, and other factors.

Centering Equity in Short-Term Rental Regulations
How can city officials mitigate the negative impacts of short-term rentals?

Lawsuit Filed to Halt L.A.’s Mansion Tax
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is among the groups suing to block the city of Los Angeles’ voter-approved ‘mansion tax.’

Chicago Sears Redevelopment To Include Medical Facility, Housing
Developers have announced details about the long-awaited renaissance of a shuttered West Side Sears store.

Winter Storm Knocks Out Drinking Water Systems in the South, Including in Jackson
Jackson, Mississippi made headlines and incurred a civil rights investigation earlier this year when flooding knocked out the city’s drinking water supply. This week’s winter storm had the same effect on Jackson as well as other Southern cities.

Congressional Spending Bill Includes First Ever Federal ‘YIMBY’ Grant Program
The $1.7 trillion spending bill approved by Congress earlier in December includes a significant first: $85 million in discretionary grant funding for local governments to remove obstacles to housing development.
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