Walk Score’s new food desert map is a potentially powerful tool in the ongoing policy debate about access to healthy foods. But it’s still a work in progress.
Bill Bradley points to a few of the current map’s weaknesses. First is the necessarily arbitrary definition of access. Walk Score chose to look at stores within a five-minute walk, when ten might have been just as appropriate. Then there’s the deeper relationship between car ownership and consumption patterns. Are residents in a car-centric city like Tucson likely to walk to a grocery store under any circumstances?
Bradley also questions Walk Score’s failure to sort legitimate grocery stores from bodegas less likely to stock healthy foods. “My biggest fear is that Walk Score has glossed over some important data here, and conflated convenience with actual access to healthy foods.”
FULL STORY: What Walk Score's Food Desert Map Misses About Food Access

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

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

In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the New Design Thinking
Creativity has long been key to great urban design. What if we see AI as our new creative partner?

Cal Fire Chatbot Fails to Answer Basic Questions
An AI chatbot designed to provide information about wildfires can’t answer questions about evacuation orders, among other problems.

What Happens if Trump Kills Section 8?
The Trump admin aims to slash federal rental aid by nearly half and shift distribution to states. Experts warn this could spike homelessness and destabilize communities nationwide.

Sean Duffy Targets Rainbow Crosswalks in Road Safety Efforts
Despite evidence that colorful crosswalks actually improve intersection safety — and the lack of almost any crosswalks at all on the nation’s most dangerous arterial roads — U.S. Transportation Secretary Duffy is calling on states to remove them.
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.
Appalachian Highlands Housing Partners
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie