The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Toronto

Sidewalk Labs to Test its Smart Cities Ideas in Toronto

Sidewalk Labs LLC, a unit of Google's parent company Alphabet Inc., has been awarded a high-profile opportunity to test ideas for "reimagining cities from the Internet up," as its company mantra says. The city of Toronto will be its testing ground.

October 6 - The Globe and Mail

London Crowded Street

Study Touts the Public Health Benefits of Dense, Urban Living

A study of British cities find people living in dense urban cores are less likely to struggle with obesity and more likely to exercise—signs of higher quality of life—than their counterparts in suburban environments.

October 6 - Reuters via The Guardian

Bjarke Ingels Group

Friday Eye Candy: Denmark's New LEGO House Has Starchitect Pedigree

LEGO fans rejoice! Bjarke Ingels Group has made the LEGO house of your dreams a full-sized reality, and it's stocked full of LEGOs.

October 6 - The Architect's Newspaper

D.C. Metro Bus

Four Ideas to Improve D.C. Buses

It isn't always easy, especially for politicians and engineers, but there are proven ways to save a floundering bus system.

October 5 - Greater Greater Washington

Minneapolis Buildings

The PlanIt Podcast Explains Historic Preservation

More and more communities are including historic preservation in plan efforts. But what is Historic Preservation and what does planning for it mean? In this episode, John Smoley explains.

October 5 - PlanIt - Metropolitan Council


New York Has its First Center-Running Bus

It's a small step forward on a portion of the Bx6 bus line in Bronx, but the center-running bus is coming to more corners of New York City soon.

October 5 - Spectrum News

I-94

Wisconsin's $1.1 Billion Highway Widening Project on the Ropes

The proposed widening of I-94 in Milwaukee is a $1.1 billion chunk of a $6.4 billion road widening program in the region. The NAACP sued the project as a matter of environmental justice.

October 5 - Wisconsin Gazette


Kansas City Streetcar

Report: Streetcars Were Always for Developers

Streetsblog digs into the literature on streetcars and finds evidence that the transit mode du jour was never intended to benefit transit users.

October 5 - Streetsblog USA

Construction

California's New 'By-Right' Housing Law: Will it Make a Difference?

A new law could enable affordable housing projects, if they meet the specified criteria, to bypass the public process that so often blocks their approval.

October 5 - Los Angeles Daily News

United States

Updating the Status of Puerto Rico's Infrastructure in Real Time

A website called status.pr is keeping residents and concerned observers apprised of progress in the recovery of the island's critical infrastructure.

October 5 - The Washington Post

Taco Bell

Taco Bell Wants You to Walk, Not Drive, to the Border

Is Taco Bell finally prepared to bring to fruition the future predicted in the 1993 movie Demolition Man?

October 5 - Food & Wine

Michigan

300,000 Michigan Drivers' Debt Forgiven

Michigan to grant amnesty to 300,000 drivers whose licenses were taken from them because they were too poor to pay the "Driver Responsibility Fee."

October 5 - Slate

Traffic and Skyline

BLOG POST

Travel Trends: Are They Changing?

Recently released travel data show Americans returning to their cars as the economic recovery deepens. Alternative forms of transportation are not attracting new users.

October 4 - Steven Polzin

Cincinnati, Ohio

The 2017 'Great Places in America'

The American Planning Association's annual list celebrates the best urban planning and design from around the country.

October 4 - American Planning Association

Floyds Fork Louisville

New Development, Open Space Set to Clash in Louisville Again

The Covington by the Park development proposal is back. The developer has revised previously stalled plans for a conservation subdivision on Louisville's eastern edge.

October 4 - Insider Louisville

End of the rainbow

What's Behind the Removal of Public-Private Partnerships from Trump's Infrastructure Plan?

Partnering with the private sector carries risks. Witness the mess that followed the selection of a private firm to build an interstate in Indiana in 2014 that Vice President Mike Pence should have prevented in his prior position as governor.

October 4 - The Indianapolis Star

Google Headquarters Expansion Trips Near the Finish Line

Negotiations between the city of Mountain View and tech giant Google over the latter's plans to expand its headquarters recently took a strange turn.

October 4 - The Mercury News

memphis Bus

A 'Memphis 3.0' Vision for Transit Taking Shape

In 2019, the city of Memphis will enter its third century with, hopefully, an ambitious new vision for public transit in place.

October 4 - The Commercial Appeal

D.C. Metro Station

CNU Climate Summit Highlights

Growing set of tools measures the impact of urban form on climate. Hazel Borys reviews highlights of the CNU Climate Summit held last weekend near Washington, D.C.

October 4 - PlaceShakers

Highway

Florida DOT Adopts 'Context-Based' Street Design

The "right street in the right place" hasn't always been a concept that departments of transportation were ready to acknowledge, much less adopt. The Florida Department of Transportation, however, is working to take context into consideration.

October 4 - State Smart Transportation Initiatives

Post News

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.