20/20 reporter John Stossel explores the "myth that urban sprawl is ruining America."
ABC News 20/20 reporter John Stossel offers his list of "things you may have been led to believe are true but aren't." Number two on his list is the "myth that urban sprawl is ruining America."
"...Suburban sprawl is evil. The unplanned growth, cookie cutter developments is gobbling up all the space and ruining America. Right? Wrong... s open space disappearing in America? No, that's a total myth. More than 95 percent of the country is still undeveloped."
Stuart Sirota, a participant on an email listserv called the Practice of New Urbanism, writes: "I just got finished watching a special edition of 20/20, entirely devoted to John Stossell "dispelling"common myths and misconceptions in America. His #2 Top myth was "Sprawl", in which he used the most extreme libertarian arguments to dismiss sprawl as a problem (e.g. "95% of the US is undeveloped", "suburbia is what peopleprefer", "so-called sprawl creates opportunity for home ownership", etc,etc.) During the piece, Stossell included an extremely edited-down interview he conducted with ... [James Howard] Kunstler. The editingwas so badly butchered and unbalanced that it was obvious it was made tolook like Stossell had the upper hand over Jim in a debate over sprawl.Among the things he said, Stossel attacked Portland's urban growth boundary and berated Jim saying, "the rules that YOU people have imposed there have driven up land costs to the point where people can't afford to buy homes."
Thanks to Chris Steins
FULL STORY: John Stossel Takes on Myths, Lies and Nasty Behavior

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

Half of Post-Fire Altadena Home Sales Were to Corporations
Large investors are quietly buying up dozens of properties in Altadena, California, where a devastating wildfire destroyed more than 6,000 homes in January.

Opinion: What San Francisco’s Proposed ‘Family Zoning’ Could Really Mean
Mayor Lurie is using ‘family zoning’ to encourage denser development and upzoning — but could the concept actually foster community and more human-scale public spaces?

Jacksonville Launches First Autonomous Transit Shuttle in US
A fleet of 14 fully autonomous vehicles will serve a 3.5-mile downtown Jacksonville route with 12 stops.
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.
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Jefferson Parish Government
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont