Municipal officials and staff in Anchorage, Alaska, are hard at work drafting an updated land use plan that incorporates modern planning principles in the city's vision for development.
Anchorage Press reporter Zach Fields writes:
People who move to Anchorage are often shocked by how ugly and poorly planned the city is, in stark contrast to its surroundings. After decades of non-existent and then poor planning, the municipality finally is embarking on a comprehensive planning effort to rationalize development and strengthen the city's potential for economic growth. It can’t come soon enough: As low oil prices drain the state budget, Anchorage’s economic vitality will become increasingly reliant on attracting skilled professionals who want to live here because of the region’s unique amenities. Local business leaders are emphasizing that this is the new economic development paradigm: Attract people with good quality of life, and business will follow. Good urban quality of life is impossible without good urban planning and good urban design.
Read the full story: Urban Planning for Anchorage?
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Seattle passes record-breaking transit services expansion
Proposition 1 will double the city’s transit tax to add 95,000 more bus trips and preserve 180,000 bus trips annually.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority