Following a pilot project tested on the city's South Side, Pittsburgh is working toward expanding its "Sociable City Plan" to four additional neighborhoods in need of balancing unruly behavior with the benefits of an active nightlife scene.
Diana Nelson Jones reports on the Sociable City Plan, which Pittsburgh developed along with the Responsible Hospitality Institute. Described by Nelson Jones as a "blueprint for protecting quality of life without squelching the economic and social benefits of nightlife," the goal of the plan "is a focused response by teams of building and health inspectors, police, business and neighborhood organizations to help restaurant and bar owners minimize liability, damage and the need for enforcement."
The program was tested in the last year on the South Side, which has been "notorious for more than a decade as numbers of young drinkers and abusive behaviors have escalated."
"Many of those ideas used on the South Side will be rolled out as a pilot in Lawrenceville, Oakland and Market Square, Downtown, but the lessons learned can be tweaked or replicated across the city," according to the article's sources.
FULL STORY: More Pittsburgh neighborhoods targeted in nightlife 'hospitality' plan
Night Mayors Come to America
The Night Mayor, a position first created in Amsterdam, has been taken up by cities around the world, first in Europe and now in more and more American cities.
Urban Planners Should Be More Like Party Planners
Urban planners like the nightlife. They like to boogie. But one researcher argues that planners should better understand how to balance the positive and negative effects of a bustling nightlife.
Pittsburgh Excels at Low-Cost, Quick-Build Traffic Calming
The city’s traffic calming initiative has led to a 6 percent average reduction in speeds on corridors with recent interventions.
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.
New State Study Suggests Homelessness Far Undercounted in New Mexico
An analysis of hospital visit records provided a more accurate count than the annual point-in-time count used by most agencies.
Michigan Bills Would Stiffen Penalties for Deadly Crashes
Proposed state legislation would close a ‘legal gap’ that lets drivers who kill get away with few repercussions.
Report: Bus Ridership Back to 86 Percent of Pre-Covid Levels
Transit ridership around the country was up by 85 percent in all modes in 2024.
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