The Wall Street Journal profiles the astonishing $45 million renovation of Queens Plaza, where "a wasteland of potholed roads, a parking lot and elevated subway tracks" has been transformed into an urban oasis.
Led by landscape architect Margie Ruddick, with a team of collaborators including Marpillero Pollak Architects, Judith Heintz of the landscape
architecture firm WRT, artist Michael Singer and lighting artist Leni
Schwendinger, the linear park is "shining proof of the power of enlightened urban planning, talent,
taste, trees and other plants and, perhaps most of all, positive
thinking to minimize, if not wholly eradicate, the effects of an
otherwise hostile environment," observes Ralph Gardner Jr.
Located amid a 16-lane roadway where pedestrians were commonly hit by cars, Gardner believes, "the most challenging aspect of the project was redirecting the
flow of traffic, the work of the Department of City Planning and the
traffic engineering firm Eng-Wong, Taub-timing lights and situating
medians to increase safety in tandem with improving the plaza's
aesthetics."
"One way this was achieved was by using medians decorated
with jagged chunks of demolished concrete from the construction. That
may not sound particularly attractive, but it somehow works. It's
visually arresting, and at the same time sends motorists a message not
to mess with pedestrians waiting to cross at the light."
FULL STORY: In Queens, An Artistic Alteration

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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

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Portland Raises Parking Fees to Pay for Street Maintenance
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Spokane Mayor Introduces Housing Reforms Package
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Houston Mayor Kills Another Bike Lane
The mayor rejected a proposed bike lane in the Montrose district in keeping with his pledge to maintain car lanes.
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