The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Op-Ed: New York's Affordable Housing More Corrupt than Helpful
A columnist takes the recent scandal involving disgraced former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver as a particularly heinous example of how far astray affordable housing policy is from its intended goal.
Op-Ed: The Cleveland Clinic Chooses Sprawl over Healthy Communities
A scathing critique of the land use, development, and transportation decisions of the Cleveland Clinic calls out the medical center for neglecting its role in the prioritizing healthy communities.
Legislation would Require Bike Helmets, Reflective Clothing for Bike Riders
A newly proposed bill in California comes down hard on one side of a hotly contested issue regarding the necessity of helmets in ensuring the safety of bikers.
Urban Design for the Commitment-Phobe in All of Us
On the new Plan.Place blog, the author describes the ways that small-scale, temporary projects can have a widespread, lasting impact on the way that our communities evolve and change.
OPEC Sees U.S. Motorists as Their Ally
An IEA report suggests that oil prices have bottomed-out, are now on the rebound, and that demand for OPEC's oil will start rising next year. OPEC predicts that U.S. oil consumption will increase after years of decline, thanks to U.S. motorists.
Where Have All the Anti-Tech Protestors Gone?
In San Francisco at this time last year, Google bus protestors and Ellis Act rage were making the news everyday. The City seems a little more...adjusted these days.
What is a 'Placemaker' (Besides an Overused Buzzword)?
Placemaking is an overused term and under-comprehended subcategory of the urban design and planning fields. Howard Blackson explains what it means and how it has evolved in his own career.
Philadelphia Announces 'Indego' Bikeshare System—Opening this Spring
Indego will officially launch this spring with over 60 stations and 600 bikes. The city is already making plans to expand the system after its initial launch.
Better Design and a 'Level of Service' for the Blind
Scott Schafer pens a column inspired by watching a visually impaired woman navigate a busy corner of Minneapolis. The question raised by the column: How can we improve level of service for the blind?
Greenprint 2015/2040 Plan Calls for 500 Miles of Greenways in the Memphis Region
A regional coalition has spent three years planning a network of greenspaces that will span in the Tri-State area surrounding Memphis, Tennessee. The Greenprint 2015/2040 plan was released to the public last week.
Trains Are Always Better than Buses, Right?
Josh Barro provide examples galore of why the answer to that question isn't always yes—where costly rail investment has been to the detriment of existing transit. His column targets proposed projects, such as New York's LaGuardia Airport AirTrain.
Reading Cities Cover to Cover, and Why
Chuck Wolfe underscores the importance of a holistic view of urban places, referencing themes of common experience, aesthetics, feelings of happiness, safety, or security—a basic narrative of the city that often goes beyond first impressions.
Control of Farmland—City Style
Farm land ownership matters on the edges of metropolitan areas, where farmers can find lucrative markets for their products and yet, with ever escalating land prices, face daunting odds in securing land to grow on or even to get started.
FEATURE
Needed: A Fresh Approach to Funding U.S. Infrastructure
Kenneth Orski, editor and publisher of Innovation NewsBriefs, examines how state governments are beginning to accept more responsibility for transportation funding.
Report: Balance Needed for New York's Manhattan-Centric Transit System
The Regional Plan Association released a report this week finding New York's transit system to be irrationally skewed toward Manhattan service. The report proposes a list of capital projects to correct the imbalance.
BLOG POST
Supply and Demand Denialism
Some progressives deny that the law of supply and demand applies to housing.
Political Power Coalesces around I-345 Teardown Proposal in Dallas
The politics of urban highways will play out in Dallas in the coming years. A new political action committee, the Coalition for a New Dallas, will push for I-345 between downtown and Deep Ellum to be torn down.
Chicago's Pullman Park District to Achieve National Monument Status
President Barack Obama is expected to announce the Pullman Park neighborhood in Chicago as the country's newest national monument. The move is part of a larger effort to recognize more diversity in the country's public lands.
Renters Predominate in Low-Cost and High-Cost Cities
A report by New York University’s Furman Center found that renters made up the majority of households in nine of the 11 largest cities in the U.S. in 2013, up from five in 2006. The demand is straining the supply of rental housing.
A $3 Billion Proposal to Engineer New Jersey's Passaic River
The Passaic River, upriver from Newark, is a chronic flood threat to the communities along its banks. But a new plan to build a permanent solution could also block access to the river.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
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.
