The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Dallas, Texas

From Parking Lot to Urban Green Space

The first of four new parks opening in Dallas in the next few years opened earlier this month—Pacific Plaza park.

October 21 - The Dallas Morning News

Amtrak Surfliner

San Diego Parking Reform Wins the Day With the California Coastal Commission

The California Coastal Commission could have overturned part of San Diego's ambitious parking reform policy approved earlier this year, and would have if commission staff had won their arguments.

October 21 - Streetsblog California

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

L.A.'s Blue Line Reopening Soon, With a New Name

The Blue Line light rail line, connecting Los Angeles and Long Beach, is almost finished with a $350 million repair program. When it reopens to service it will be called the A Line.

October 21 - Los Angeles Times

Suburban Arizona

Development Depleting Groundwater in Arizona

A new report identifies looming challenges with the water supply enabling growth in Central Arizona suburbs.

October 21 - Arizona Republic

Brooklyn, New York City

Local Resistance for NYC's Open Parks Program

The Parks Without Borders program in New York City is intended to open parks to the rest of the public realm, but some local activists like their parks just how they are.

October 21 - City & State New York


Buffalo Bayou Park

The Gentrification Effect of Urban Parks

New research finds that different types of parks correlate with different gentrification effects, adding to the complexity of urban change.

October 21 - CityLab

Construction

Research Reveals the Growth of Home Building Oligopolies

New research reveals an "unseen force" in the housing crisis: consolidation of home building capital and land ownership.

October 20 - The Washington Post


Illinois Highway 90

Details of Illinois' $45 Billion Infrastructure Investment Plan

The Chicago Tribune combed a pile of legislation to produce an authoritative database of projects funded in an historic spending spree by Illinois.

October 20 - Chicago Tribune

Los Angeles, California

L.A. Wants Fewer Parking Podiums

The Los Angeles City Planning Commission has approved a new Advisory Notice regarding above grade parking, in the hopes of limiting the massive parking podiums proliferating around the city.

October 20 - Urbanize Los Angeles

No Pictures

Life on the 'Nation's Most Photographed Street'

Acorn Street in Boston has been described as the nation's most photographed street, and now residents who live on the private way are pushing for controls on the number of people visiting the narrow, cobblestone street.

October 20 - The Boston Globe

Painted Bus Lane

Where to Prioritize Buses Next

Advocates in New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle are pushing for more transit and pedestrian priority, and less car-centric streets, as a wave of high-profile projects capture national attention.

October 20 - Brooklyn Paper

Homeless Encampment

Massive Discrepancies Identified in Official Homeless Counts

The Los Angeles Times crunched data from the 2019 point-in-time count of homelessness in Los Angeles County. What they found diverged profoundly from official findings.

October 19 - Los Angeles Times

Washington, D.C.

Is NIMBY-Shaming a Viable Housing Strategy?

Facing a severe housing shortage, Washington, D.C. grapples with how to approach the challenges presented by local stakeholders who oppose any and all development.

October 19 - WAMU

Avondale

Neighborhood Responds as Gentrification Concerns Spread in Cincinnati

Development interest is flocking to Avondale, a mostly Black neighborhood with relatively high poverty rates in Cincinnati.

October 19 - WCPO

Flying Cars

A Transit Consultant's Take on Flying Cars

A journalist asked, so Jarrett Walker answered.

October 19 - Human Transit

Canadian Election

More Than One North American Political Campaign Ignoring Housing and Transit

When it comes to ignoring matters of housing affordability and public transit during an election cycle of great significance, the United States is not the exception. Candidates in Canada's 2019 Federal Election have mastered the same trick.

October 19 - The Star

San Francisco, California

Social Equity Cited in Veto of California Road Pricing Bill

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a unique road pricing bill due to concerns that charging a fee would limit access to driving on two blocks of Lombard Street, a popular tourist attraction in San Francisco that is severely congested.

October 18 - ABC KGO TV 7 - San Francisco

Squirrel

The Central Park Squirrel Census

Some people ask why anyone would want to do a census of all the squirrels in Central Park. Others ask why not?

October 18 - CityLab

Shasta Lake

The Interior Secretary's Past Lobbying Work Scrutinized

A project to raise the height of the Shasta Dam, dead in the water before the Trump administration, is moving forward now that a former lobbyist for the project is the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

October 18 - The New York Times

Empty Subway

New Commute Data: Telecommuting on the Rise

The news from the most recent American Community Survey data isn't entirely bad for advocates hoping that Americans will switch to more efficient, less impactful forms of commuting.

October 18 - Eno Center for Transportation

Post News

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

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The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

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The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

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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.