Rapid transit is at the center of Grand Rapids' new development plan.
"Expanding public transit now is a top priority for students, seniors, and the workers wearing suits. As the convenience of automobile ownership diminishes and costs escalate, walking, biking, and other alternatives to the car have become increasingly popular across the metropolitan area. For example, annual ridership on The Rapid, the urban transit service, jumped 14 percent in 2005â€"to a record 6.4 million rides. And twice in the past five years citizens voted for tax hikes to enhance the local bus service. Now civic leaders are formulating plans to roll streetcars back out or possibly even build a light rail system similar to those operating in Sacramento, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, and Denver."
Thanks to Keith Schneider
Read the full story: Small Midwest City Lays Track For New Economy
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.
Boston has spent millions making the Green Line more accessible — and there’s no end in sight
While the city has invested millions into expanding and adding platforms to the Green Line to make it more accessible, new train cars set to arrive next year will be too tall for disabled passengers to board without raising the current platforms.
Idaho may see an 18% drop in federal surface transit funding — the largest estimated cut in the US
Transit systems in rural communities are much more reliant on federal funding to provide their services.
How ‘post-disaster gentrification’ alters neighborhoods after natural calamities
After hurricanes, fires or other calamities, the original residents of a community are often replaced by younger, wealthier residents.
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