The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Pedestrians and Surfers

Illegal in Honolulu: Looking at a Phone While Crossing the Street

The Honolulu City Council approved fines for distracted walking—specifically for pedestrians crossing the street while looking at their phones.

July 17 - CNN

Uptown Oakland

BLOG POST

The Roots of Racial Transition

In some American cities, the white population is growing while the black population is declining. Is this a result of gentrification or of black upward mobility?

July 17 - Michael Lewyn

Toll Roads

Defending Road Pricing from Public Opinion

Access Magazine takes a deep dive into congestion management, explaining the reasoning behind a publicly unpopular strategy: road pricing.

July 17 - Access Magazine

Metrobus

Proposals for Displacement-Free Development in D.C.

Cities have to prioritize displacement as a policy issue if they want to achieve inclusive growth, writes David Whitehead.

July 17 - Greater Greater Washington

Tesla

The Era of the Electric Vehicle is Approaching

A new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that due to a plunge in battery prices and improvement in battery technology, electric vehicles will be cost-competitive with gasoline vehicles in eight years. By 2040, they will outsell them.

July 17 - Bloomberg BusinessWeek


Los Angeles

FEATURE

A City With Room for Everyone

A vision set forth for Los Angeles in 1970 still has powerful relevance in 2017.

July 17 - Gerhard Mayer

Historic Vote by California Senate on Cap-and-Trade Expected Monday

Caling the upcoming vote on AB 398, which has created strange political bedfellows, "the most important vote of your life," Gov. Jerry Brown cast the decision as choosing between "massive new regulations" and market-based mechanisms.

July 16 - San Francisco Chronicle


BART Station

Why was BART's Ridership Forecast for Millbrae Station So Wildly Off-Base?

In 1995, planners forecasted that the Millbrae BART Station in San Mateo County, where riders can transfer to/from Caltrain, would attract 16,500 weekday riders. Fourteen years after it opened, ridership is 7,000. Planners were off by 58 percent.

July 16 - San Francisco Chronicle

Sierra Nevada

Owens Valley Calls on Eminent Domain to Buy its Water Back from Los Angeles

Call it a reverse Chinatown.

July 16 - Los Angeles Times

Seattle Center

The Poetic Grid Maps the Lyrics of Place

There's only one requirement to qualify for Seattle's Poetic Grid project: write a poem about a specific place.

July 16 - Next City

Bay Bridge Toll

Road Funding By Taxes, Tolls, and Fees, Broken Down by State

The Tax Foundation endeavors to provide a simple explanation of road funding.

July 16 - Tax Foundation

Denver Region

Suburban Poverty in the Denver Region Compares Favorably to National Averages

A more nuanced understanding of suburban poverty is available from an examination of the Denver region.

July 15 - The Denver Post

Decision Time for Bus Rapid Transit on I-35 in Austin

The rubber meets the road, or not.

July 15 - Austin Monitor

Sea Level

Sea Level Rise Will Displace Communities in Every Corner of the Bay Area

Sea level rise is already flooding communities with such regularity that many residents are deciding to leave. The sea level rise tipping point will expand its reach as the climate changes.

July 15 - San Francisco Chronicle

Underground Tunnel

Report Suggests Improvements for Chicago's Network of Underground Paths

A new report is potentially a first step in a larger project to revamp Chicago's Pedway—an under-appreciated network of tunnels in downtown Chicago.

July 15 - Chicago Tribune

Study: Bike Lanes Raise Property Values in Brooklyn

New bike lanes in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick started raising property values within a year.

July 15 - DNA Info

Street Closed

Friday Friendly: More Houses Should Have Patios in the Front

With so many houses oriented to the privacy of backyards, one street in St. Louis has redefined neighborly by orienting their sitting and relaxation areas to the front yard.

July 14 - StarTribune

Report Predicts the End of Individual Car Ownership

The first report from independent think tank RethinkXL predicts that by 2031, 95 percent of U.S. passenger miles traveled will be served by on-demand, autonomous electric vehicles owned by companies providing transport as a service.

July 14 - San Francisco Chronicle

Dearborn Street Bike Lane

Bike Friendliness Ends at the City Border

A new report details the work Chicago's suburbs will have to do to live up to the bike-friendly example of its urban core.

July 14 - Chicago Tribune

California North Coast

Trump Budget Would Nix Tsunami Warning System

The difference in lives saved between tsunamis that hit Crescent City, California in 1964 and 2011 was an early detection and warning system. Now it's up to Congress to save the $12 million system from the proposed cuts in Trump's budget.

July 14 - Los Angeles Times

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.