Deciding how to grow at the local level's not a red thing or a blue thing. It's a math thing. Ben Brown's got the lowdown.

"Planning for the future tends to be a humiliating exercise. Whatever’s headed our way is both inevitable and unpredictable. Yet because it brings with it the consequences of decisions we made or ducked in the past and now have to manage or endure in the present, we have to take a stab at decisions that are coherent and well-informed."
"Or not."
"Lately, owing to chaos at the federal level, we’ve appeared all in for a going-with-the-gut planning strategy. Even when it was clear the gut was on a fact-free diet. But there’s evidence that, at least in some policy-making categories, rational analysis using, you know, data might be making a comeback."
Brown looks at the city planning efforts making a difference with math-based decision making, including the "Freeways Without Futures" report, the work of Joe Minicozzi and his Urban3 group, Chuck Marohn and Strong Towns, Scott Bernstein and the Center for Neighborhood Technology.

FULL STORY: Feared Dead, Math’s Back: Planning nerds vindicated

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

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
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Cuomo Is the Candidate of Both NIMBYs and Developers. What Gives?
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San Antonio and Austin are Fusing Into one Massive Megaregion
The region spanning the two central Texas cities is growing fast, posing challenges for local infrastructure and water supplies.

Charlottesville Temporarily Has No Zoning Code
A judge ordered the Virginia city to throw out its newly revised zoning code, leaving permitting for new development in legal limbo.

In California Battle of Housing vs. Environment, Housing Just Won
A new state law significantly limits the power of CEQA, an environmental review law that served as a powerful tool for blocking new development.
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