Columnist John King examines the lessons about rebuilding a city that can be learned from the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906.
"Before New Orleans, the worst urban disaster in the United States occurred in San Francisco, when the earthquake and fire of April 18, 1906, destroyed 28,000 buildings and killed upward of 3,000 people.
...Civic leaders in 1904 hired [fabled Chicago architect Daniel Burnham] to draw up a plan that included new boulevards along classical lines. Supporters saw the earthquake as a "magnificent opportunity for beautifying San Francisco," in the words of former Mayor James Phelan. But business interests recoiled at condemning private land to build new streets.
...Unlike London in 1666 or San Francisco in 1906, New Orleans is not a city on the rise: The population has shrunk by nearly 150,000 people since 1960, and 28 percent of its residents live below the poverty line, more than twice the national average."
Read the full story: A City in Survival Mode: The push to resurrect New Orleans
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
Colorado’s Largest Data Center Could Rise Next to Homes — Without a Public Hearing
The proposed campus would consume 11 times the power of Denver International Airport; as it has across the country, opposition mounts.
Nation's most wind-powered state turns to coal as data centers increase energy demand
For the first time in decades, Iowa has increased its generation of coal power.
NYC cools commuters with city's first rain garden above a bus stop
New York City officials say the plants in the rain garden can absorb 16 gallons of rainwater during heavy storms.
Brightline West’s future may rely on $6 billion federal loan
The company has until Nov. 2 to make a $400 million equity investment into its proposed high-speed rail line.
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.
Greater Baltimore Committee
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association