Transportation for America has released "The Innovative MPO"—a guidebook of sorts that provides lessons in successful regional planning.
Angie Schmitt shares news of a new guide for metropolitan planning organizations, released by Transportation or America, called "The Innovative MPO."
Schmitt introduces the need of such a guide by describing a good MPO/bad MPO dichotomy found around the country: "If you look at healthy, growing regions like Minneapolis and Salt Lake City, they tend to have more enlightened regional planning agencies. Still, there’s a lot of room for improvement. Many MPOs — and their close cousins, councils of government, or COGs — have been slow to adapt to the 21st century, with its new and more complicated set of transportation demands that extends far beyond highway construction."
The article goes on to share five techniques employed by the best MPOs. They include: "Don’t limit the job to managing congestion," "Concentrate investments in regionally important areas," and "Conduct meaningful public engagement."
FULL STORY: 5 Techniques That Guide the Best Regional Planning Agencies

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Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

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

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Report: Zoning Reforms Should Complement Nashville’s Ambitious Transit Plan
Without reform, restrictive zoning codes will limit the impact of the city’s planned transit expansion and could exclude some of the residents who depend on transit the most.

Judge Orders Release of Frozen IRA, IIJA Funding
The decision is a victory for environmental groups who charged that freezing funds for critical infrastructure and disaster response programs caused “real and irreparable harm” to communities.
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