Suburban Orlando is home to what might well be the best example of the absurd development patterns of post-war America. There you'll find two houses with adjoining backyards whose front doors are separated by seven miles of roads.
"Behold: Two houses with adjoining backyards in suburban Orlando," writes Angie Schmitt. "If you want to travel the streets from point A on Anna Catherine Drive to point B on Summer Rain Drive, which are only 50 feet apart, you’ll have to go a minimum of seven miles. The trip would take almost twenty minutes in a car, according to Google Maps."
"Windy street patterns, full of cul-de-sacs and circles, have become such a ubiquitous feature of the suburbs that they mostly escape remark. But disconnected streets have many insidious consequences for the environment, public health, and social equity."
FULL STORY: Sprawl Madness: Two Houses Share Backyard, Separated by 7 Miles of Roads
Revisiting Subdivision Regulations
For many decades now, most communities in the United States have grown as a series of subdivisions, built on a tried and true formula. It might be time to change the math.
The Rise and Fall of the Cul-de-Sac
In the 1930s, The Federal Housing Authority embraced the trend towards cul-de-sacs, decrying the standard street grid as monotonous and unsafe. Norman Garrick and Wesley Marshall have proven otherwise.
The Natalist Case For Sprawl (And Why It Fails)
Some commentators defend anti-urban government policies such as exclusionary zoning on the basis that homeowning suburbanites have high birth rates. But this doesn't seem to be true in recent decades.
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Federal officials are eyeing major cuts to the Section 8 program that helps millions of low-income households pay rent.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series
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California Invests Additional $5M in Electric School Buses
The state wants to electrify all of its school bus fleets by 2035.
Austin Launches $2M Homelessness Prevention Fund
A new grant program from the city’s Homeless Strategy Office will fund rental assistance and supportive services.
Alabama School Forestry Initiative Brings Trees to Schoolyards
Trees can improve physical and mental health for students and commnity members.
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.
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Clanton & Associates, Inc.
Jessamine County Fiscal Court
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
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Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
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NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service