Should Los Angeles try to preserve its rich heritage of 1,500 murals, which are rapidly fading and patched from graffiti?
"Seeing how other Angelenos have wanted their city seen requires some effort. It can mean a crisscross of road trips on and off the freeway and into unfamiliar neighborhoods where 1,500 exuberant murals on bridge abutments and housing projects picture a city embraced, questioned and thoroughly lived in...
A "zero-tolerance" policy for graffiti made Caltrans a partner with taggers in this vandalism. Taggers wrote on murals because state highway crews were slower to paint out graffiti there. In response, Caltrans began covering graffiti on murals with patches of institutional gray paint, turning works such as Twitchell's "The Runners" and Glenna Avila's "L.A. Freeway Kids" into ruins more than wall paintings the freeways as a drive-by Pompeii, ourselves as barbarians at our own walls."
Thanks to Chris Steins
Read the full story: Trying to Picture L.A. Clearly
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.
US buildings threatened, destroyed by fires set to triple by 2060
Researchers found a high fire risk for socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods in the American West.
LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.
Dallas moves to overhaul its zoning code
The city's zoning reform will allow more multi-family and mixed-use developments.
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