The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The End of Redevelopment Worsened California's Housing Crisis

Anthony York performs an autopsy of how decisions made by Governor Jerry Brown and the California Legislature during the Great Recession are influencing the housing market, nearly a decade later.

August 28 - Pacific Standard

Transit Riders in Portland Can Pay Their Fare With Their Smartphones

Introducing the Hop Fastpass system.

August 28 - The Oregonian

Vancouver, British Columbia

Want Strangers to Trust Each Other? Paint Crosswalks in Rainbows

People say they're more confident that their lost wallets would be returned or that they would meet a friend on a corner that had a rainbow-painted crosswalk.

August 28 - Quartz

Satellite Image

Hurricane Effect: Rising Gas Prices

One need not be on the Gulf Coast to experience some of the effects of Hurricane Harvey, a category 4 storm that landed near Corpus Christi on Friday night. Gas prices are expected to rise five to ten cents per gallon in some regions, then recede.

August 28 - USA Today

Spin and LimeBike

Seattle Bikeshare: From Failure to Success in Less Than Six Months

News of the demise of the Pronto! bikeshare system in Seattle broke in February, but by the end of the year, the city is expected to have the U.S.'s largest bikeshare network.

August 28 - CNN Tech


Orlando Rail Transit

Subsidized Uber Rides to Transit Stations Now Available in Five Florida Cities

Altamonte Springs was the first to subsidize Uber rides connecting to transit stations, in March 2016. Now Lake Mary, Longwood, Maitland, and Sanford join the ranks of this unique public-private partnership.

August 28 - WMFE

Miami Brightline Construction

Trump Administration Kills Obama Era Local Hiring Program

The U.S. Department of Transportation quietly killed an Obama Administration program that would have been the only federal level local hiring initiative.

August 28 - The New York Times


Georgetown

Report: D.C. Inclusionary Zoning Finally Getting On Track

The Housing Department also found that inclusionary zoning (IZ) has not adversely impacted new development.

August 28 - Washington City Paper

Sixth Street, Austin

Lessons From Victorian Era Land Use Policy

The tools of the planning profession helped clean up many unhealthy aspects of the industrial revolution, but also stifled some of the best innovations of Late Victorian urbanism.

August 28 - The American Conservative

Graphene Quantum Dots

BLOG POST

This Low-Cost, Organic Material Could Bring Solar Energy to All Electronics

Solar energy has been a game changer in energy production in recent years, but the game could be about the change again. Add graphene to the list of disruptive technologies that could transform energy infrastructure as we know it.

August 27 - Kayla Matthews

Coal Mining

Study on Health Effects of Strip Mining Stopped by Trump Administration

The mining industry felt some of the National Academies of Sciences' studies were biased against them, and its studies were unfair in the way they documented the health problems among workers.

August 27 - Courier-Journal

Home For Sale Signs

Changes to Mortgage Interest Deduction Cap Still on the Table

One hot button item to watch as Congress takes up the issue of tax reform in the coming weeks: whether Republicans are able to follow through on a promise to reform the mortgage interest deduction.

August 27 - CNBC

Canton, Ohio

$750 Million to Create a Sports-Focused, Mixed Use Development in Canton, Ohio

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is about to get a major makeover. The development investment is the largest in the history of the city of Canton.

August 27 - The New York Times

Baltimore Rowhouses

Advocates Tout Community Land Trusts for Solutions to Displacement, Blight

Community land trusts are a favorite tool of advocates who want to take a communitarian approach to property and public space in cities facing the challenges of population decline, blight, and gentrification.

August 27 - Yes! Magazine

Nation's First All-Electric Bus Route Launches in Stockton, California

A city once infamous for municipal bankruptcy is now setting a standard for public transit technology.

August 26 - Capital Public Radio

First Span of Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge Opened Last Night

The westbound 3.1-mile span from Tarrytown across the Hudson River to South Nyack in Rockland County stands adjacent to the 62-year-old Tappan Zee Bridge that will be dismantled next year. The new $3.9 billion bridge was built on-time and on-budget.

August 26 - CBS This Morning

Wildfire

Climate Change Impacts at the County Level

A recent study lends new specificity of the human cost and economic damage wreaked by climate change in the coming decades.

August 26 - Governing

Lessons in Freeway Widening

The lesson is simple: don't widen freeways if you want to reduce congestion and auto-dependence.

August 26 - City Observatory

Raising the Alarms as Hurricane Harvey Heads for Houston and the Gulf Coast

Hurricane Harvey was expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday. If the damage in human and economic terms is terrible, a lack of infrastructure maintenance and development responsibility will be to blame.

August 26 - CityLab

Chicago, Illinois

Federal Approval, But No Funding for Chicago Toll Lanes

Though the federal government approved the plan for toll lanes, called managed lanes in Illinois, the state lacks the funding to implement the idea. Two toll lane proposals are currently in limbo.

August 25 - CBS Chicago

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.