The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Atlanta BeltLine

An Investigation of Affordable Housing Failure on the Atlanta Beltline

An investigative collaboration between the Georgia News Lab and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has produced a scathing critique of Atlanta Beltline Inc., the organization shepherding one of the nation's most ambitious public works projects.

July 18 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Property Tax Assessment Shake Up in Wisconsin

A highly anticipated decision by the Wisconsin State Supreme Court has stakeholders scrambling to anticipate changes to the property tax system.

July 18 - Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Urban Forests

Comparing the World's Urban Tree Canopies

Seattle provides plenty of shade for residents to enjoy in the summer months.

July 17 - The Stranger

Boston, Massachusetts

Development Overtakes Open Space in Boston's Seaport District

Planners worry that the success of the waterfront district has led to its overdevelopment.

July 17 - The Boston Globe

Court Ruling Sides With Regional Officials Over Statewide Climate Goals

The California Supreme Court sided with the San Diego Association of Governments on July 13 in the first court case to decide how regional planning agencies must meet state-required reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from transportation.

July 17 - The San Diego Union-Tribune


Anti homeless bench

Booming Downtowns Are Squeezing Out Homeless Shelters

In downtowns across America, booming development has come at the expense of crucial homeless services that have traditionally located there.

July 17 - CityLab

Pedestrians and Surfers

Illegal in Honolulu: Looking at a Phone While Crossing the Street

The Honolulu City Council approved fines for distracted walking—specifically for pedestrians crossing the street while looking at their phones.

July 17 - CNN


Uptown Oakland

BLOG POST

The Roots of Racial Transition

In some American cities, the white population is growing while the black population is declining. Is this a result of gentrification or of black upward mobility?

July 17 - Michael Lewyn

Toll Roads

Defending Road Pricing from Public Opinion

Access Magazine takes a deep dive into congestion management, explaining the reasoning behind a publicly unpopular strategy: road pricing.

July 17 - Access Magazine

Metrobus

Proposals for Displacement-Free Development in D.C.

Cities have to prioritize displacement as a policy issue if they want to achieve inclusive growth, writes David Whitehead.

July 17 - Greater Greater Washington

Tesla

The Era of the Electric Vehicle is Approaching

A new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that due to a plunge in battery prices and improvement in battery technology, electric vehicles will be cost-competitive with gasoline vehicles in eight years. By 2040, they will outsell them.

July 17 - Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Los Angeles

FEATURE

A City With Room for Everyone

A vision set forth for Los Angeles in 1970 still has powerful relevance in 2017.

July 17 - Gerhard Mayer

Historic Vote by California Senate on Cap-and-Trade Expected Monday

Caling the upcoming vote on AB 398, which has created strange political bedfellows, "the most important vote of your life," Gov. Jerry Brown cast the decision as choosing between "massive new regulations" and market-based mechanisms.

July 16 - San Francisco Chronicle

BART Station

Why was BART's Ridership Forecast for Millbrae Station So Wildly Off-Base?

In 1995, planners forecasted that the Millbrae BART Station in San Mateo County, where riders can transfer to/from Caltrain, would attract 16,500 weekday riders. Fourteen years after it opened, ridership is 7,000. Planners were off by 58 percent.

July 16 - San Francisco Chronicle

Sierra Nevada

Owens Valley Calls on Eminent Domain to Buy its Water Back from Los Angeles

Call it a reverse Chinatown.

July 16 - Los Angeles Times

Seattle Center

The Poetic Grid Maps the Lyrics of Place

There's only one requirement to qualify for Seattle's Poetic Grid project: write a poem about a specific place.

July 16 - Next City

Bay Bridge Toll

Road Funding By Taxes, Tolls, and Fees, Broken Down by State

The Tax Foundation endeavors to provide a simple explanation of road funding.

July 16 - Tax Foundation

Denver Region

Suburban Poverty in the Denver Region Compares Favorably to National Averages

A more nuanced understanding of suburban poverty is available from an examination of the Denver region.

July 15 - The Denver Post

Decision Time for Bus Rapid Transit on I-35 in Austin

The rubber meets the road, or not.

July 15 - Austin Monitor

Sea Level

Sea Level Rise Will Displace Communities in Every Corner of the Bay Area

Sea level rise is already flooding communities with such regularity that many residents are deciding to leave. The sea level rise tipping point will expand its reach as the climate changes.

July 15 - San Francisco Chronicle

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.

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.