Sewage issues in Ottawa are bringing attention to the significant infrastructure problems associated with sprawl.
"The genesis of the infrastructure mess plaguing cities is not very complicated. Municipal politicians and planners allowed cities to get too big, to sprawl, creating long distances to extend infrastructure from the core.
In Ottawa, roads, electrical lines and water mains cover huge swaths of geography to serve a spread out, density-poor population.
So when the city gets lots of snow as it did last winter, the snow-plowing budget goes through the roof. When the roads get too long, the hotpatching budget for filling potholes gets larger and larger. When the cost of asphalt increases, so too does the hotpatching bill. Then the long roads need rebuilding or repaving.
In recent weeks, infrastructure anxieties in Ottawa have focused on our inadequate sewer systems, which after heavy rains end up fouling our beaches and the river from which residents in parts of Eastern Ontario and West Quebec get their drinking water."
FULL STORY: Finally, we're talking sewage

Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

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

Walmart Announces Nationwide EV Charging Network
The company plans to install electric car chargers at most of its stores by 2030.

New State Study Suggests Homelessness Far Undercounted in New Mexico
An analysis of hospital visit records provided a more accurate count than the annual point-in-time count used by most agencies.

Michigan Bills Would Stiffen Penalties for Deadly Crashes
Proposed state legislation would close a ‘legal gap’ that lets drivers who kill get away with few repercussions.

Report: Bus Ridership Back to 86 Percent of Pre-Covid Levels
Transit ridership around the country was up by 85 percent in all modes in 2024.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
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