American cities are increasingly making moves to reclaim their streets. In this column, Neal Peirce looks into the trend.
"Across the country, there's pressure to reclaim city streets for the city's own people. Fueling this pressure is the alarm raised over high accident and death tolls from pedestrians struck by autos and trucks.
The "Complete Streets" movement - urging city and neighborhood streets be made as welcoming and safe for pedestrians and cyclists as they are for autos - is gaining attention, now backed up by legislation pending in Congress.
Public transit use is enjoying a banner year across the country.
A vanguard of cities is banning cars from their public parks.
There's increased effort - lead cities range from Seattle to Buffalo, Toronto to New Haven - to tear down ugly motorways that divide neighborhoods and occupy valuable space near city centers."
Read the full story: City Curbs on Cars: Now Accelerating
Redesigning Streets for Livability: A Global View
An excerpt from the introduction of the recent book, “Streets For All: 50 Strategies for Shaping Resilient Cities,” edited by Vinayak Bharne and Shyam Khandekar.
Embracing the Future of City Streets
Streets will have to evolve, again.
Is a Vibrant City Best Measured at Night?
Chuck Wolfe asks if a city's vitality is best indicated at night, and how it should be measured.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
US buildings threatened, destroyed by fires set to triple by 2060
Researchers found a high fire risk for socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods in the American West.
LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.
Dallas moves to overhaul its zoning code
The city's zoning reform will allow more multi-family and mixed-use developments.
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.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority