The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Painting the Streets Blue in Crested Butte, Colorado
This isn't some new take on the bright green of bike lanes all over the country—it's not even the same shade of blue worn by the Denver Broncos. It's Bud Light painting the mountain town's Elk Avenue blue for $500,000 for its #WhateverUSA promotion.
$102 Million Brings Chicago-St. Louis High Speed Rail a Step Closer
A $102 million investment by Illinois along with federal funds from the Recovery Act will pay for double-tracking and a new rail bridge to enable 109 mph service on a key section of Amtrak's Chicago to St. Louis high speed rail corridor.
Local Climate Change Response Prevailing Over Federal Action
With national action tackling climate change remaining weak, regional and local municipalities are taking substantive actions to address the oncoming severe affects of climate change.
Euro-Envy Reconsidered: Talkin' Time, Distance, and Change
Most North American urbanists turn to Europe for inspiration and direction. Some of that brilliance, Ben Brown reminds us, is due to time and distance.
Report: Fracking Doesn't Pose Danger to California Groundwater
The Bureau of Land Management will resume oil and gas leasing in California after a report by a scientific research organization established by the state legislature showed no correlation between fracking and groundwater pollution.
Hitchhiking as Transportation Solution
With 80 percent of our passenger capacity empty, Jenny O'Brien discusses the potential of hitchhiking apps as a transportation solution in a recent TEDxKC talk.

Watch: How the Chicago Riverwalk Project Will Transform the City
Sasaki Associates has produced a video about the under-construction Chicago Riverwalk. The lesson for all cities from the video, as well as the project: "If you can imagine it, you can built it."

BLOG POST
Let Our Children Walk
Many Americans believe children should not be free to walk alone, because of crime and traffic. But children constantly driven around by their parents or locked away at home are also subject to significant risks.

Comparing the Price of Uber and Car Ownership
Kyle Hill compares the cost of exclusively riding Uber to owning a car in the car-centric city of Los Angeles.
Housing America's Older Population—New Report Details the Challenge
A new study from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University and the AARP Foundation has produced a pile of data on the country's aging population and its implications for housing and planning policy.

What a Megacity with 107 Million People Looks Like—via SimCity
Writing for Motherboard, Derek Mead details what it took for a particularly ambitious SimCity player to build a city of 100 million people.
Fifty Years of the Wilderness Act
Fifty years ago, Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law The Wilderness Act, at the time protecting more than nine million acres of wild lands throughout the nation.
Road Upkeep in an Era of Diminishing Vehicular Travel
Today, most transportation professionals are aware that the era of inexorable growth in vehicular travel has ended. Yet many state DOTs and local public works departments continue to assume that traffic will grow far into the future.
Road Diet Plans Shelved for San Francisco's Ocean Beach
After two years of work, SPUR's proposals for the Ocean Beach Master Plan are still taking shape. A road diet for vehicle lanes on the Great Highway, for instance, was recently shelved for the good of other pressing priorities.
Dire Economic Fallout Expected from Atlantic City Casino Closures
Casinos in Atlantic City are closing quickly, costing the local economy 5,700 jobs and leaving the city with four large, empty buildings of a variety that offers little or no precedent for reuse.
Evictions Increase as Renters Struggle to Compete
Shaila Dewan details the increasing rates at which renters all over the country forced from their homes by eviction.

FEATURE
How Families Can Benefit the Planning and Design of Cities
An August 19 article in the Washington Post took a tough stance on the value of families to urban settings. Here Bradley Calvert responds by describing how families provide opportunities for planners to rethink cities for the better.

BLOG POST
The Future of the Gayborhood
With the advancement of LGBT rights and equality, the traditionally LGBT neighborhood is changing to reflect the tastes and preferences of the new LGBT community within.
Legislation Supports Protected Bike Lanes in California
Protected bike lanes are not included in the California Highway Design Manual, notwithstanding the state's recent endorsement of the NACTO manual. All that's needed to change that is Gov. Jerry Brown's signature.

BLOG POST
Introducing the Litman 'Chauffeuring Burden Index'
A significant portion of vehicle travel consists of chauffeuring: additional travel to transport a non-driver. The new Chauffeuring Burden Index calculates its direct and indirect costs. Why do these costs receive such little attention in planning?
Pagination
City of Tustin
Tyler Technologies
New York City School Construction Authority
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
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.