The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
San Francisco's Housing Craze: More People Fewer Cars
Something strange is taking place in the City by the Bay. It's not just experiencing a growth in carless households—carless households are actually replacing those with cars.
Open Today: Light Rail Connection to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
Called the "biggest accomplishment" in DART's 31-year history, city leaders are hoping the new airport connection brings more international cachet along with tourists, conventions, and investments in downtown.
Bike Infrastructure Study: Bigger Investments Return Bigger Payoff
You get what you pay for, goes the old saying, and a new study out of New Zealand makes the case that when it comes investing in bike infrastructure, it's best to invest in quality.
Ferguson Conflict Provides Lessons in Suburban Poverty
A post by Brookings explains how the racial tensions and violent clashes between police and protestors in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson are a symptom of common contemporary archetype: the impoverished suburb.
Traffic Safety Requires a 'Psychological Speed Limit'
New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed a bill this month reducing the speed limit in New York City. But what will it take to get people to actually slow down, especially when speeding is an acceptable social norm?
Responding to Distorted Criticisms of the President's High Speed Rail Program
High-speed rail is not an $11-billion failure, as a recent New York Times article asserts, writes Time's Michael Grunwald. A more appropriate name would be "higher speed" rail as outside of the California project, all are upgrades of Amtrak lines.
California Voters to Consider $7.5 Billion Water Bond
It isn't always a drought in California, but the state's Legislature is always fighting over investments in water storage and delivery infrastructure. This week's 11th hour action will put a $7.5 billion water bond before the voters in November.
Retrofitting New York City's Multi-Family Housing for Resilience
Multi-family housing took the brunt of Hurricane Sandy. Compounding the many challenges to storm-proofing the city's housing supply: 90 percent of the housing in flood-prone areas was built before 1983, when flood-resistance standards were adopted.
Bowling Green, Kentucky a Model of College Town Development Success
Keith Schneider shares the details of an ongoing building boom around the campus of Western Kentucky University, where $262 million in construction has come to Bowling Green’s central business district since 2008.
Is Busking in D.C.'s Metro Stations Protected Speech?
The ubiquitous sight of a performer or musician asking for money in a New York City subway is conspicuously absent from Washington D.C. Metro stations, because busking is verboten in the nation's capital. A July lawsuit aims to change that policy.
With a Footprint Larger than its City Limits: Will Boise Annex 27,000 New Residents?
Following a controversy over annexation on the northwest boundary of Boise back in July, an Idaho Statesman article examines the prospect (and history) of plans to annex a much more populated area to the city's southwest.
A Collection of Benefits for 'Walkable, Compact, Diverse' Neighborhoods
A meta-analysis published in Housing Policy Debate finds that extensive studies in recent years support positive claims about walkable neighborhoods.
Editorial: Streetcar Funding Better Spent Elsewhere
The Economist introduces the concept of the streetcar in America—its history and its recent revival—before laying the arguments in support of, and against, the role of streetcars in urban revival.
Ten Years of OpenStreetMap
Exactly how does a student take on an open data political stance and transform it into "the largest crowd-sourced mapping project on the internet"?
Tourism's Negative Effects in Italian Art Cities
With about 353 tourists per resident in the historic city center of Venice, many residents are fleeing the crowds and moving onto the mainland, making the city a "monument-attraction," rather than a viable living space.
A Primer on the Zoning Code Avant Garde
Anthony Flint discusses how "Silicon Valley-level innovative thinking" is making zoning more exciting than, well, anyone ever thought zoning codes could be.
Phoenix Wants to Triple its Light Rail Mileage
Hot on the heals of studies about residents ditching their cars and a new complete streets ordinance, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton is setting lofty goals for new transit capacity.
Editorial Supports Blocking Access from Detroit to its Suburbs
Grosse Point Park, which borders Detroit, has blocked streets that connect its commercial district from the east side of Detroit. An editorial from the Detroit News says that the focus should be on making Detroit a better neighbor.
BLOG POST
What is a 'House'? Critiquing the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey
Demographia's International Housing Affordability Surveys are widely used to compare cities and evaluate urban development policies, but there are good reasons to question their analysis methods, starting with their definition of "house."
How Much Will Gas Prices Rise in California After Cap and Trade?
It could be as low as nine cents per gallon, or as high as 76 cents, writes UC Berkeley energy expert Severin Borenstein. On January 1, transportation fuels are included under California's landmark cap and trade program.
City of Moorpark
City of Tustin
Tyler Technologies
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
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.
