Cars and vehicle emissions are undoubtedly central to the climate change problem. The solution, however, might not be cleaner vehicles but rather a drastic change in our relationship to automobiles and driving.
"As nations across the globe get set for the decade of emissions cuts that is mandatory if we are to avoid the catastrophe of global heating of 2C or more, what should be our attitude to driving?" asks The Guardian in an editorial piece.
While proponents argue that electric vehicles are going to be important in addressing climate change, concerns remain about the impacts of vehicle and battery manufacturing. A better focus might be the ways cars and driving have become integral parts of life in the United States and, increasingly, in countries around the world, and how that relationship can change.
"Climate science dictates that the use of petrol and diesel cars and trucks must be drastically reduced. Electric vehicles are part of the solution, but car culture as a whole also needs an overhaul. This will not be easy. As well as their utility, motor vehicles have come to symbolise powerful human longings for privacy, autonomy, speed, mobility and freedom."
Read the full story: The Guardian view on car culture: change is coming
North Carolina Drafts Clean Transportation Plan
Similar to other plans focused on reducing emissions from the transportation plan, North Carolina’s draft Clean Transportation Plan will rely on electric vehicles to reduce emissions from the state’s transportation sector.
Planning for Congestion Relief
The third and final installment of Planetizen's examination of the role of the planning profession in both perpetuating and solving traffic congestion.
How Planning Fails to Solve Congestion
Solutions for congestion are never as simple and easy as armchair planners and engineers would like you to believe—especially those who suggest that congestion can be solved by forever building more roadway capacity.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
In Texas, data centers are swallowing promised parkland
Residents who moved to Taylor, Texas for a rural community now have to contend with three data centers in their backyard.
How a Chicago-sized wind farm beat the odds and powered on
The project spanned five presidential administrations and a standoff with a U.S. military base.
MTA gives itself 30 days to transform pit into basketball court
The site has been under construction since 2022; the city originally estimated it would finish the court in 2024.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority