Atlanta's BeltLine is a great example of a big "catalyst project," writes Ryan Gravel, which repurposes a 22-mile railroad into a linear park. Other cities can follow suit.
"The highways that were designed to empty central Detroit at the end of each business day should be largely abandoned. They did their job and are no longer needed. Greenways could be built in their place, along with repaired connections to the urban grid (imagine something like Boston's Emerald Necklace linking the Detroit River directly to Wayne State University)."
"By implementing transit service and bikeways along these routes, supported by zoning, business incentives, and an appropriately open-minded political atmosphere, these revived avenues, just like the Atlanta BeltLine or the Los Angeles River, could become an infrastructure framework on which multiple futures for the city are built, none of which we can possibly right now imagine."
Read the full story: What The Atlanta BeltLine Can Teach Us About Urban Revitalization
Learning loss and urban schools, part 2
Did test scores in progressive cities drop more post-COVID than test scores in moderate ones?
Racism Has Shaped Public Transit, and It’s Riddled with Inequities
Former Houston METRO Board Member Christof Spieler highlights the racism embedded even in the way transit agencies were created.
Debunking the Arguments Against Detroit's New Bike Lanes
Protected bike lanes, this writer argues, are just one part of a broader rebuild of Detroit that prioritizes engagement.
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