Lac-Mégantic, Quebec was the site of a train derailment that cost dozens of lives and destroyed 10 blocks of its downtown. Now residents and town leaders are working to heal from that tragic event with plans for the future.
"'You’ve got to recapture the whole sense of the city,' says John van Nostrand, a Toronto architect and urban planner with international experience working in disaster-riddled communities. 'It's partly about nostalgia, but it’s partly the opportunity to change it. … You need good streets, you need public space, and you need a good layout – but you also need a place that allows people to remake it the way they’d like to see it.'"
"Just as people don’t suffer or recover from trauma the exact same way, no two towns emerge from disaster with the same scars or plans for renewal," writes Kathryn Blaze Carlson. "But both Cordova and Lac-Mégantic are in the rare (if deeply unenviable) position to build their centres from scratch, to lay the groundwork for a 'destination' rather than a cookie-cutter 'non-place' lacking the natural energy that pulses from established communities but is so rarely found in overly built environments."
FULL STORY: How rebuilding plans will create a new vision of Lac-Mégantic

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

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
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.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie