The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Elevated Cycletracks: Future Urban Staple or Glitzy Dream Project?

With London's proposed SkyCycle and Copenhagen's successful Cykelslangen, are elevated cycletracks a viable transportation solution?

September 4 - ASLA The Dirt

A Massive List of Tools for Digital Public Engagement

Here are 50 tools for online engagement. These digital platforms can help local government consult, collaborate with, and empower citizens in planning decisions.

September 4 - CommunityMatters

Pedestrian Danger

America's Failing Walkability

In a recent Huffington Post article, F. Kaid Benfield of the Natural Resources Defense Council breaks down some of the barriers for walkability in the United States.

September 4 - Huffington Post

Is Living in New York City a Consumption Choice?

To what degree are people's location decisions dictated by their consumer preferences? Jordan Weissmann of Slate Magazine discusses whether living in an expensive city like New York City is a consumption choice.

September 4 - Slate Magazine

Crested Butte Colorado

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.

September 3 - The Denver Post


$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.

September 3 - Chicago Sun-Times

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.

September 3 - Brookings Institution


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.

September 3 - PlaceShakers

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.

September 3 - Los Angeles Times

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.

September 3 - YouTube

Chicago Bikers

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."

September 3 - The Architect's Newspaper

Two Brothers Walk to School

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.

September 3 - Michael Lewyn

Lyft

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.

September 3 - TechCrunch

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.

September 3 - Harvard University Gazette

Crowd

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.

September 2 - Motherboard

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.

September 2 - Los Angeles Times

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.

September 2 - Community Builders

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.

September 2 - S.F. Streetsblog

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.

September 2 - Philadelphia Inquirer

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.

September 2 - New York Times

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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.