The Metropolitan Area Planning Council will unveil a new plan for growth and preservation in Greater Boston, which calls for a new pattern of development based on "Smart Growth".
"ONE OF the greatest improvements to life in Metro Boston over the past 20 years is the MBTA. Whatever its shortcomings, the T today is a far cry from the one many of us rode as children. It is, for the most part, reliable, clean, and safe. The rebuilt Orange Line runs quickly downtown, and north to Malden. The Red Line has doubled in length, linking Braintree with Cambridge. Commuter rail lines knit the region together, and ferries bring passengers into town from the South Shore.
Today, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council will unveil a new plan for growth and preservation in Greater Boston. The plan, called "MetroFuture," was constructed with input from more than 5,000 residents and regional leaders. It calls for a new pattern of development based on "smart growth" - concentrating new homes and jobs near existing infrastructure, preserving farms and fields, and protecting air, water, and habitat. However, attaining the lofty goals of MetroFuture depends more on one institution than on any other: a healthy, stable, and growing transit system."
Read the full story: Why we need to save the T from ruin
Three Cheers for the Automobile
Former Congressman Ernest Istook discusses why the automobile is the ultimate manifestation of freedom, mobility, and personal choice, and argues for a re-allocation of public spending away from mass transit and other alternatives.
Congestion Costing Reality Check, Part 3: Smart congestion relief
There are many better ways to reduce congestion in your city than expensive roadway expansion projects. Win-win strategies reduce congestion and provide many other benefits.
Congestion Costing Reality Check, Part 2: A congestion costing critique
There are good reasons to be skeptical of highway industry claims that traffic congestion is a growing problem. Their analysis is often incomplete and biased. Let’s pull back the curtain on some major congestion cost studies.
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.
Los Angeles just elected an urban planner as its mayor
Transportation analysts are optimistic that Raman will be more aggressive in addressing transit issues than Bass.
Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
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
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority