A two-minute call on a cell phone is now a window into local history in Orange, New Jersey, where a new project has created an audio tour/history lesson out of more than 30 recordings of local residents.
Signs are scattered throughout town with instructions and a phone number to call to hear place-specific stories and memories from local residents.
"The project is intended to create a sense of pride in a once-thriving industrial community of 33,000 residents that saw a mass exodus of businesses and residents to the suburbs when the construction of Route 280 demolished entire neighborhoods beginning in the 1960s."
"...Since March, nine Orange High School students have interviewed business owners, current and former residents and officials throughout the city and transmitted the interviews to an online message center. Callers can find ear-shaped signs at sites around the city, dial a free local number and punch a code into their cell phone to hear short, first-hand stories about the location."
Read the full story: 'Murmur' hopes to improve Orange residents' connection with city
Light Rail From Durham to Orange Finds Final Funding Piece
Planners behind a new 17-mile light rail system that will connect the cities and employers in the Research Triangle in North Carolina overcame a change of funding plans by the state.
Orange County to Remove 1,000 Homeless People From the Santa Ana River
Responding to local homeowners and politicians, Orange County will clear homeless encampments from a riverbed and stormwater channel under its control.
Property Rights, First Amendment at Issue Over Confederate War Memorial
150 years ago yesterday Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Potomac, ending the Civil War. The ancestors of the Confederacy not live in a country protected by the First Amendment.
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.
In Texas, data centers are swallowing promised parkland
Residents who moved to Taylor, Texas for a rural community now have to contend with three data centers in their backyard.
How a Chicago-sized wind farm beat the odds and powered on
The project spanned five presidential administrations and a standoff with a U.S. military base.
MTA gives itself 30 days to transform pit into basketball court
The site has been under construction since 2022; the city originally estimated it would finish the court in 2024.
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