The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Signs of the times, and more evidence of the essential service provided by public transit throughout the pandemic.

June 11 - The City

House and Senate versions of the five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill are on different tracks, headed in different directions.

June 10 - Smart Cities Dive

The plaintiffs in one of the nation's first court cases over employer-required COVID vaccinations are among the heroes of the pandemic—nurses fighting to remain unvaccinated. Houston Methodist Hospital suspended unvaccinated employees on June 6.

June 10 - JD Supra

It's the latest turn of the screw for a project that has depended on the occupant in the White House.

June 10 - The New York Times

A bridge in the works since the 1970s marks significant progress for active transportation in Portland, Oregon.

June 10 - Bike Portland

Despite the economic blow dealt by last year's lockdowns, business districts in smaller cities like Wilkes-Barre managed to weather the crisis.

June 10 - The New York Times

A pioneering architect in Newcastle, U.K. tries to open planning to the people with a new "urban room" for community engagement.

June 10 - The Guardian

A recent Nantucket Town Meeting resolved a long-simmering controversy regarding short-term rentals.

June 10 - The Inquirer and Mirror

It's a tale of two cities as New York starts to emerge from the pandemic.

June 10 - The New York Times

PLANOPEDIA

Regional planning addresses planning issues that cross local jurisdictional boundaries, like transportation or watershed protection. In other examples, regional planning offers a holistic approach to the interconnected systems and dynamics that shape physical and cultural landscapes.

June 9 - James Brasuell

Almost all the affordable housing development in L.A. in the past decade has occurred in majority-minority neighborhoods. The L.A. Department of City Planning is looking for ways to make sure high-income areas do more of their fair share.

June 9 - Urbanize LA

A newly released report by the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) reveals the state of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) activities at park agencies across the U.S.

June 9 - Parks and Recreation Magazine

As more and more people move to the suburbs blossoming in the Phoenix metro area, local water officials are increasingly concerned about the region's ability to keep up with demand.

June 9 - High Country News

New research assesses the land value of street space in 20 of the largest counties in the United States.

June 9 - Bloomberg CityLab

FEATURE

Lots of planning is discretionary. Cities and developers negotiate what builders will do for cities in exchange for the right to build, creating an incentive for bad rules, eroding the public's faith in zoning, and enabling political corruption.

June 9 - Michael Manville

Until recently, New York City's local housing vouchers only covered about $1,250 in rent; the median rent on a NYC apartment is $2,600. Activism from current and formerly homeless New Yorkers helped change that.

June 9 - Next City

Center City in Philadelphia offers a case study for one of the largest and potentially most consequential contingencies of the pandemic: What happens to downtowns is most workers never come back to the office?

June 9 - Philadelphia

With many U.S. transit agencies facing severe gaps in service and budget shortfalls, some advocates argue that improved service matters more than free fares.

June 9 - Slate

Op-ed: Even for people who have never been evicted, the stain of merely an eviction filing can lock people out of quality housing for years.

June 8 - Next City

A reservation system could help the struggling national parks system manage crowds and protect our public lands from overuse, according to this article.

June 8 - MinnPost