Buildings and homes built as a product of the Works Progress Administration of the 1930s are being torn down at a rate that some find unsettling.
"'It's ironic to be tearing them down just when America is going through tough times again,' said the biographer Robert Caro, who wrote about the WPA in 'The Power Broker,' his book about the builder Robert Moses. 'We should be preserving them and honoring them. They serve as monuments to the fact that it is possible to combine infrastructure with beauty.'"
"Professors, authors and architects have formed the National New Deal Preservation Association. State governments from Arkansas to California are compiling lists of WPA-era projects still standing.
'They are redolent of a moment when there was more emphasis on making an integrated community - not just building houses, but auditoriums, community centers and schools,' said the architect Hugh Hardy, who restored Radio City Music Hall in New York City. 'It's a better use of energy, in a time of fiscal restraint, to see what we can reuse, remake and renew,' he added. 'It's monstrous to say you have to tear them down.'"
FULL STORY: New Deal architecture faces bulldozer
New Research Reexamines HOLC's Role in Redlining
New Deal agencies did engage in discriminatory lending practices–but not quite in the way we think.
Biden Learning From the Unrealistic Expectations of Past Economic Stimulus Efforts
Taking lessons from his time working in the Obama administration, President Biden is tempering promises of quick job creation with long-term reinvestment.
Lessons From Decades of Racist Land Policy
President and CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Dr. George McCarthy traces the legacy of racist policy and offers guidance toward an economic recovery that begins to undo systemic racism.
Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.
Half of Post-Fire Altadena Home Sales Were to Corporations
Large investors are quietly buying up dozens of properties in Altadena, California, where a devastating wildfire destroyed more than 6,000 homes in January.
Opinion: What San Francisco’s Proposed ‘Family Zoning’ Could Really Mean
Mayor Lurie is using ‘family zoning’ to encourage denser development and upzoning — but could the concept actually foster community and more human-scale public spaces?
Jacksonville Launches First Autonomous Transit Shuttle in US
A fleet of 14 fully autonomous vehicles will serve a 3.5-mile downtown Jacksonville route with 12 stops.
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.
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Jefferson Parish Government
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont