A new law in New York State requires state agencies to form smart growth advisory panels to determine whether proposed infrastructure projects meet smart-growth principles.
Jeremy Moule writes that the panels will:
"...examine whether a project improves existing infrastructure instead of building new infrastructure or encourages the reuse of already developed property. While the law applies to state agencies and state projects, it'll also affect grant funding for local projects like sewer and road work."
Moule interviews a smart growth advocate who believes that enforcing smart growth principles should also save the state money that would otherwise be wasted supporting infrastructure for sprawl.
Read the full story: Smart growth saves two kinds of green
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.
USDOT Releases Climate Strategies Playbook
The USDOT's new Climate Strategies that Work Playbook provides detailed information concerning benefits and implementation requirements for 27 transportation-related emission reduction strategies.
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