The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

BLOG POST

A recent Planetizen blog claims that urban highway expansions reduce traffic congestion and benefit everyone. That must be a joke! Most planners now recognize that such projects tend to be economically wasteful and contradict community goals.

February 26 - Todd Litman

The public has been getting a close look at a proposed mega-project at Tower City Center in Cleveland that could eventually yield 3.5 million square feet of construction.

February 26 - Cleveland.com

FEATURE

The updated version of Donald Appleyard’s 1982 book Livable Streets, written by Appleyard's son, dives even deeper into the ‘ecology of the street,’ proposing actionable solutions for the conflicts and problems facing urban environments today.

February 26 - Bruce Appleyard

A new tool developed in British Columbia calculates the cost of infrastructure over the entire life cycle of the project.

February 26 - Strong Towns

With all apologies to the late great Fred Rogers.

February 24 - Curbed

Federal workers are pushing back on a return to the office, citing the environmental benefits of eliminating daily commuting.

February 24 - The Washington Post

The implementation of a new master plan for the neighborhood of Oakland, home to the University of Pittsburgh, is moving forward despite controversy and a contentious community engagement process.

February 24 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Two Virginia cities were awarded federal funding aimed at improving connections between neighborhoods cut apart by freeway construction.

February 24 - WRIC

Local cyclists are resisting a plan to prohibit e-bikes in all of the city’s open space preserves.

February 23 - Palo Alto Weekly

A recent package of code changes by the city of San Diego will make it possible to build high-rise residential buildings and accessory dwelling units in larger areas around public transit.

February 23 - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Weeks after federal officials evicted unhoused people from a Washington, D.C. park, research indicates that similar actions, which usually come at a high cost to cities, have little impact on homelessness in the long term.

February 23 - Smart Cities Dive

A $6 million program takes aim at a backlog of thousands of requests for sidewalk maintenance, but critics say requiring property owners to foot half of the bill excludes less affluent neighborhoods.

February 23 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Amendments proposed in the state budget would also prohibit automated traffic enforcement and allow residents to travel to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean with Real IDs in lieu of passports.

February 23 - The Plain Dealer

Local critics of Gov. Phil Murphy’s plan to install hundreds of wind turbines off the New Jersey coast plan to sue the state to stop or delay the projects, citing aesthetic, environmental, and economic concerns.

February 23 - Governing

FEATURE

The demographic changes of the last few years give city planners and urban designers an opportunity to reimagine how public spaces can most effectively promote public health, wellbeing, and equity.

February 23 - Douglas C. Smith

With many cities and local jurisdictions using zoning codes to slow housing development, policymakers at the state level are taking action to increase the housing supply.

February 23 - Urban Institute

The Regional Housing Needs Assessment drama continues in California.

February 22 - San Francisco Chronicle

In many rural and suburban Washington state communities, children who walk or bike to school don’t have access to safe, adequate pedestrian facilities.

February 22 - The Seattle Times

Terrible news about the financial situation at one of L.A.’s most prominent homeless service providers broke earlier this month.

February 22 - Los Angeles Times

A proposal to bury a Dallas freeway may not be the best way forward for the area’s residents.

February 22 - The Dallas Morning News