To be successul and vibrant, cities should have a sense of moral purpose, says Steven Greenhut.
Cities need a sense of moral purpose to survive and flourish. It's not enough, [Joel Kotkin] argues, for them to serve merely as a center of commerce. It's that idea that helps me the most as I continue my critique of the modern planning movements. In a recent interview, Kotkin complained to me that New Urbanists and others who want to recreate urban living as a rebuke to suburbanization tend to miss this almost-spiritual side to city planning."
Thanks to Abhijeet Chavan
FULL STORY: Hip cities without a soul

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

San Francisco's School District Spent $105M To Build Affordable Housing for Teachers — And That's Just the Beginning
SFUSD joins a growing list of school districts using their land holdings to address housing affordability challenges faced by their own employees.

Can We Please Give Communities the Design They Deserve?
Often an afterthought, graphic design impacts everything from how we navigate a city to how we feel about it. One designer argues: the people deserve better.

The EV “Charging Divide” Plaguing Rural America
With “the deck stacked” against rural areas, will the great electric American road trip ever be a reality?

Judge Halts Brooklyn Bike Lane Removal
Lawyers must prove the city was not acting “arbitrarily, capriciously, and illegally” in ordering the hasty removal.

Engineers Gave America's Roads an Almost Failing Grade — Why Aren't We Fixing Them?
With over a trillion dollars spent on roads that are still falling apart, advocates propose a new “fix it first” framework.
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