In the Toronto area, the region's suburbs have evolved in ways that make them fundamentally different from their outdated postwar image. Yet the ways we think and talk about the suburbs haven't kept up with this new reality.

"The suburbs have the region’s majority share of population and job growth and are home to major infrastructures such as the airport and universities," say Sean Hertel and Roger Keil. "On these bases suburbia can no longer be considered subordinate to the City of Toronto. But still it is. Prejudices have power over facts – clouding our view of what the suburbs truly have become and why, most importantly, that should matter."
Hertel and Keil, who have been engaged in a three-year effort to develop "new approaches for planning, building, servicing and governing Toronto’s ever-growing and diversifying periphery", have just issued a new report that describes their recommendations for shaping the region's suburbs for their "urban future".
"The suburbs have become, like the city centres before them, the new arenas for forming and contesting politics, modes of governance, ways of life, and the forms and notions of community," they conclude. "Taken one step further, the suburb has become the new city. And a new kind of city – a 'regional city.'”
FULL STORY: Look for Toronto’s urban future in the booming suburbs

Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

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

Walmart Announces Nationwide EV Charging Network
The company plans to install electric car chargers at most of its stores by 2030.

Knoxville Dedicates $1M to New Greenway
The proposed greenway would run along North Broadway and connect to 125 miles of existing trails.

Philadelphia Launches ‘Speed Slots’ Traffic Calming Pilot
The project focuses on a 1.4-mile stretch of Lincoln Drive where cars frequently drive above the posted speed limit.

NYC Delivery ‘Microhubs’ Aim to Cut Down on Truck Pollution
The hubs are designed to provide parking for large delivery trucks, which can pass on their cargo to bikes or other zero-emission vehicles.
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.
City of Moorpark
City of Tustin
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions