The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Portland

Reflecting on Regional Planning—50 Years Later

The planning world celebrated Jane Jacobs's 100th birthday earlier this month, and has already begun commemorating the centennial of New York's first zoning code. But did you know regional planning rose to prominence 50 years ago?

May 25 - MZ Strategies

Mehaffy Portland Image

FEATURE

Has Portland Lost its Way?

Oregon's poster child for livable planning is embroiled in new controversies over destructive growth, skyrocketing prices, and back-room cronyism.

May 25 - Michael Mehaffy

Maine North Woods

The Controversial National Parks Proposal Dividing Maine's North Woods

The Washington Post provides feature-length coverage of an ongoing, long-lasting controversy over a proposal by a wealthy landowner to donate 87,500 acres for the purposes of creating a new national park.

May 25 - The Washington Post

Arlington Ballpark

Arlington Reveals $1 Billion Baseball Stadium Proposal

For a little while there, it looked like the Texas Ranger were going urban.

May 25 - Fort Worth Business

Stone Age

Lessons from the Paleolithic Era for Contemporary Urbanites

Gustav Milne makes a simple argument via The Guardian: urbanization "is bad for us."

May 25 - The Guardian


Full House Painted Ladies

Most Young Adults Living With Their Parents for the First Time in 130 Years

A Pew Research Center analysis of Census Data reveals a fundamental shift in the way U.S. residents are living—last true in a time closer to the Civil War than the 20th century.

May 25 - Pew Research Center

No Dumping

Something Is Rotten in 'Infrastructure Week'

The cause of infrastructure should be easy for people, and planners, to rally behind. But infrastructure's cause, like so many other political issues, invites conflicts of interest.

May 24 - Streetsblog USA


Detroit People Mover

Transit Planners Put Ann Arbor-Detroit Commuter Rail in Motion

A long-stalled, but partially built-out, commuter rail line has achieved institutional legitimacy with the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan. Novembers will have a chance to decide on the idea in November.

May 24 - The Detroit News

Moving Truck

BLOG POST

Does New Housing Create New Demand for Housing?

One argument against new housing is that it creates demand for housing, thus increasing housing prices.

May 24 - Michael Lewyn

C.J. Peete Public Housing, New Orleans

Reintegrating Ex-Convicts Means Giving Them a Place To Live

The New Orleans Housing Authority has approved reforms to policies on public housing for ex-convicts in an attempt to stem homelessness among the newly released and to foster better reintegration.

May 24 - The Nation

Slow

Why the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Doesn't Use 'Accidents'

Call them crashes, collisions, even incidents, just don't call them 'accidents,' emphatically states Mark R. Rosekind, Ph.D., Administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the nation's premier traffic safety agency.

May 24 - The New York Times

Equity, Engagement, Community: Empathy Ain't Enough

if a community planning effort is to be judged by the degree to which all voices are heard, then anything short of a big turnout is going to feel like failure. Ben Brown talks equitable engagement, and aligning promises with implementation.

May 24 - PlaceShakers

Mexico Border

Critiquing Uber's Cross-Border Service from San Diego to Baja California

In Mach, Uber launched Passport, a service allowing cross-border service from San Diego to any location in the northern Baja California region. A columnist's experiment with the service reveals more PR effort than mobility service.

May 24 - Los Angeles Times

Las Vegas Strip At Night

Plans to Create a Community of Start-Ups in Las Vegas Hits Speed Bumps

The Downtown Project was envisioned as a five-year plan to develop a hub of start-ups, small businesses, and cultural attractions in Downtown Las Vegas, but things haven't gone according to schedule.

May 24 - Quartz

One World Trade Center

A Few Big Cities Lead the Economic Recovery

As the debate about whether people prefer to live in the suburbs or the big city rages on, data from the U.S. Census reveals a clear preference on the part of economic trends in the wake of the Great Recession.

May 24 - The Washington Post

Mexico Street

BLOG POST

Lessons in City Planning from the Mexican Corner Store

Mixed use neighborhoods and walkable neighborhoods in Mexican cities and towns.

May 24 - Casey Brazeal

Los Angeles Residential

BLOG POST

Bringing By-Right Affordable Housing to California

Reviewing Governor Jerry Brown's recent proposed legislation to permit projects that provide affordable housing to be approved as-of-right.

May 23 - Reuben Duarte

Trinity River Dallas Floodplain

Is This the Trinity Park Plan of Dallas' Dreams?

Architecture critic Mark Lamster finally sees a proposal worth cheering for in Dallas' plans for a new park along the Trinity River.

May 23 - The Dallas Morning News

New York City's Zoning Code, First in the Nation, Approaches its Centennial

New York's 1916 zoning code would not have allowed 40 percent of buildings in Manhattan to be built today, according to a recent analysis. It also turns 100 on August 27 of this year.

May 23 - New York Times

Chicago Blight

Black Flight From Gun Violence: Chicago's Loss Is Suburbia's Gain

Middle class African-Americans are fleeing Chicago due to crime, not due to being priced out, as is common elsewhere. "On average more than 10,000 African-Americans leave the city every," reports Brandis Friedman of WTTW for the PBS NewsHour.

May 23 - PBS NewsHour

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.