November Must-Reads: Top 10 Articles From Last Month

Last month’s presidential election, unsurprisingly, loomed large over much of the news cycle as advocates, policymakers, and experts scrambled to make sense of the results and their potential impact on U.S. housing policy, transportation and infrastructure investments, public lands, energy policy, and every other aspect of American government. Here at Planetizen, readers clicked on some positive stories about high-speed rail, affordable housing, and conservation, as well as some analytical pieces that look to the future — sometimes via understanding the past — of housing, electric vehicles, transit, and the planning profession at large.

The full list of November’s most-read stories:

1. Central Florida’s SunRail Plans Major Expansion

The Orlando-area rail system, which launched in 2014 and has driven transit-oriented development (TOD) in the region, could eventually serve up to 6 million riders.

2. Las Vegas Golf Course to Become Over 1,000 Units of Affordable Housing

The Desert Pines project, which will create over 1,000 housing units and community spaces, is funded by a loan from Nevada’s State Infrastructure Bank.

3. Biden Administration Moves to Protect Alaskan Refuge From Drilling

The federal government is taking steps to limit future fossil fuel extraction in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the last months of the Biden administration.

4. Progressive Planning in Ideologically Conservative Communities

Todd Litman explains how planners can reconcile sometimes conflicting goals to promote progressive policies.

5. Denver's New High-Rise Integrates Vertical Canyon in Architectural Design

A new high-rise uses dramatic architecture to bring nature to urban Denver.

6. How Did We Get Here? Housing Policy and Planners’ Role in Shaping Regional Growth and Prosperity

Jennifer Raitt investigates the decades of policy decisions that have influenced U.S. housing policy and its role in shaping economic development and equity.

7. The Future of Electric Vehicles Under Trump

The President-elect has vowed to end the federal electric vehicle tax credit — and Tesla could be the only EV producer to benefit. Will Republican lawmakers whose districts receive benefits go along?

8. The News Is Not All Bad

Planetizen blogger Michael Lewyn looks on the bright side.

9. Bridging Divides: The Crucial Role of Collaboration in Highway Removal

Taking on a massive freeway removal project with the community in mind.

10. Tesla Is California’s Second-Biggest Air Polluter

The ostensibly eco-friendly electric carmaker has received hundreds of air quality violations in California — second only to Chevron.

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