Years of wishful talk and hopeful planning among city leaders are finally yielding physical change in this Broward County city.
Public investment, new land-use regulations, and developers who see a neighborhood on the rise are fueling a comeback of Oakland Park's formerly dreary downtown district. Street improvements, utility upgrades, land acquisition, and redevelopment incentives in a nearly 150-acre area north of Oakland Park Boulevard along Dixie Highway are helping to replace industrial gloom with a thriving Main Street atmosphere: apartments above shops, tree-shaded sidewalks, outdoor seating, street-side bustle. The city's investment has been boosted by an $18.5 million loan from the Florida League of Cities. ''We have taken a city in a bad financial situation and turned it into one of the hot spots in Broward County right now,'' Mayor Layne Walls said.
Thanks to Silvia E. Vargas
Read the full story: Dowdy downtown gets an extreme makeover
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
Judges permit Denver to divert 77,000 acre feet from the Colorado River for reservoir expansion
Overuse and climate change have caused the Colorado River’s water levels to plummet.
NYC DOT wants faster, more permanent street upgrades
The city is examining ways to build more concrete infrastructure without getting entangled in 'decades-long' projects.
'Something we’ve never seen before:' rising utility rates could strain city finances nationwide
Data centers, climate change and other factors have caused utility rates in the United States to increase by 38% since 2020.
Trump to overrule local leaders, lease millions of acres of America’s Pacific Island territories’ seafloors to mining companies
International law says that the Indigenous people of America’s territories have a right to prior and informed consent regarding projects that impact their countries.
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.
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello