Mexico City, Paris, Madrid, and Athens will ban diesel cars and vans by 2025.
"Four of the world’s biggest cities are to ban diesel vehicles from their centres within the next decade, as a means of tackling air pollution, with campaigners urging other city leaders to follow suit," reports Fiona Harvey for The Guardian. Each of the four capitals have had their own issues with air pollution. "Recent research has uncovered the scale of the problem, with 3 million premature deaths a year attributed to dirty air, as well as millions of other illnesses, particularly in children," Harvey writes.
Mexico City, Paris, Athens, and Madrid will put the complete ban in place by 2025. Diesel is a major contributor to air pollution, and diesel cars have been under increasing scrutiny since last year when, "Volkswagen Group was engulfed by scandal when it was discovered that some of its diesel cars contained technology to disguise the true level of their harmful emissions," Harvey writes.
Read the full story: Four of world's biggest cities to ban diesel cars from their centres
In Oslo, Streets for People, Not Cars
New measures will greatly reduce vehicle traffic in the city center as Oslo moves to put pedestrians, cyclists, and air quality before cars.
Car-Free Movement Gaining Steam in Europe and Elsewhere
Athlyn Cathcart-Keays of The Guardian-Cities chronicles the advancement of the international urban car-free movement as well as auto regulations that focus on air pollution. The most recent city to join the growing list is Oslo, Norway
Paris Bike Boom Leads to Steep Drop in Air Pollution
The French city’s air quality has improved dramatically in the past 20 years, coinciding with a growth in cycling.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
‘Going backwards:’ Baltimore mayor, students rally against state's transit funding plan
Maryland's proposed six-year plan provides no funding for Baltimore’s BMORE bus program and reduces its road maintenance funding.
Detroit to transform waterfront with $2.2 billion investment
Developers will convert about 18 acres of unused parking lot space into civic spaces.
Trump-backed startup wants 9,000 acres of public land for data center
If approved, developers will build 456 small nuclear reactors on federally-owned land in Utah.
'Fertilization president' to reward areas with high birthrates more transit funding
The Federal Transit Association plans to cover up to 10% more of a transit project's costs if the community’s birth rates meet or exceed national thresholds.
25 states, cities sue the EPA over erased power plant emissions limits
The coalition also intends to sue the EPA for not regulating emissions from gas-fired power plants.
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 Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello