The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
The Twin Cities Offer Free Election Day Transit—Does it Matter?
There is little, or no, evidence that offering free transit on election day improves voter turnout. Today the Twin Cities will do it anyway for the sake of, hopefully, improving the democratic process.
Drilling Bans on Three California County Ballots Today
San Benito and Santa Barbara County voters will decide on fracking ban measures on Tuesday that go beyond the controversial extraction technology by including acidization and "steam flooding." Mendocino County will also have a fracking ban measure.
Irony and Inevitability: Stumbling Toward Accountable Public Policy
U.S. politics are "...beginning to sound like a mash-up of Greek tragedy and Groundhog Day. All hubris and irony, over and over again. But the pragmatism required in cities and states is starting to look like an exit strategy."
BLOG POST
Explaining the Country's Worst Rental Market
A recent study reveals that Los Angeles is the least affordable city in the country. The incentives of homeowners all but ensure that the city will never have a mandate to increase its housing supply and restore health to the city's economy.
Small Cities Booming Near Washington D.C.
"Mini D.C.s" provide the successful examples of revitalized, walkable urban places, according to a recent trend piece in the Washington Post.
Ohio Takes Two Steps Back on Energy
"After a few years of progress, a new national ranking of state energy efficiency policies confirms that Ohio is now falling fast behind competing states," reports David Beach.
'Open by Default': Louisville Opens Data to the Public
Louisville has shown leadership in the open data movement by doubling the amount of data it shares with the public in the past year.
Height Limits as a Catalyst for Development
Charles Marohn proposes height limits as a catalyst for development. Yes, you read that correctly.
Signs of Recovery? Stockton, California Exits Bankruptcy
Stockton, California symbolized the worst effects of the Great Recession on local governments—not to mention, to some, California's decline.
America's Crumbling Water Infrastructure
The country's aging water infrastructure is growing more wasteful and expensive to fix with every year. What will it take to re-engineer our drinking water supplies?
Disney's Political Donations Increase as Anaheim Considers a Streetcar
Disney says its supports pro-business candidates for City Council in Anaheim, but some see a proposed streetcar as the connection behind an uptick in the company's local political support.
Campaign 2014: Controversial Conservation Ballot in North Dakota
Should the state dedicate five percent of its substantial oil and natural gas taxes to conservation efforts? Outdoors groups, hunters, and environmental activists say yes; energy companies say no, and millions of dollars are being spent on each side.
BLOG POST
Is America's Civic Architecture Inherently Racist?
It's a provocative and rage-inducing question, but a potentially useful one for promoting discussion about the cross-cultural meaning of public space.
Op-Ed: Expand Chicago's Transit Beyond its Successful Status Quo
Yonah Freemark writes an op-ed that argues for the Chicago Transit Authority to do more than maintain the status quo.
The Best Sentences of the Week (Volume 4)
By no means authoritative or comprehensive, here's a collection of noteworthy phrases, paragraphs, commentaries, observations, and more from the recent week in the planning and urbanism discussion.
How Grand Rapids Became a Transit Success
Rachel Dovey shares some of the secrets to the success of Grand Rapids, Michigan after a year of transit improvements in the small city.
Are Single Family Teardowns a Sign of Suburban Gentrification?
Luxury condos are often identified as the culprit in urban gentrification, but could it be that teardowns of single family homes that give way to much larger single family homes is a driver of suburban gentrification?
The End of the World's Fastest, Free Drive?
The free part, not the fast part that is. Perhaps it was just a matter of time before Germany considered a toll for its autobahn network like neighbors Switzerland and Austria do. Germans could deduct the annual toll from their vehicle taxes.
Campaign 2014: Rolling Back Gas Tax Indexing
Massachusetts voters will decide on Question 1 on Tuesday—an initiative petition to eliminate the automatic, annual indexing of its 26.5-cent gasoline excise tax to inflation, implemented with a three-cent gas tax increase last year.
The Charms of Affordable Cities (Not Named San Francisco or New York)
A recent post identifies a sweet spot in the urban market: affordable cities like Cincinnati and others in the Rust Belt that provide an attractive alternative to more expensive, if more famous, cities on the coasts.
Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission
City of Mt Shasta
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
US High Speed Rail Association
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)
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Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
