The political, legal, and financial challenges faced by architect Daniel Libeskind are immense.
"How will the architect Daniel Libeskind's vision for a memorial park 30 feet below street level and a soaring 1,776-foot tower ever be built, with nearly everything from the financing to basic engineering decisions either in dispute or at least in limbo?...The more skeptical theorize that New York's political powers, led by Gov. George E. Pataki, selected the Libeskind plan not only for aesthetic or emotional reasons, but also because it obliges government to spend and do very little. The runner-up plan required constructing two costly latticework towers, but the less expensive winning design seems to commit government only to prepare the memorial park for the memorial itself. The rest will be fundamentally up to the private sector and the market."
Thanks to Abhijeet Chavan
FULL STORY: An Architect With the Drive to Get It Done

Good Planning Under Bad Leadership
Planners must sometimes work under bad leadership. Here are suggestions for responsive planning in challenging political environments.

Amtrak Cascades Line Breaks Ridership Record
The route linking Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, BC served nearly one million riders in 2024.

Legendary Parking Guru Donald Shoup Dies at 86
Urbanists are mourning the loss of a dynamic voice for parking reform and walkable cities.

LA County Leaders Seek to Increase Penalties for Rent Gouging
Landlords who raise rents sharply after disasters could face fines of up to $50,000.

How ‘Anti-DEI’ Efforts Impact Sustainable Transportation Studies
Research into accessibility, transit equity, and traffic safety is losing federal funding at an alarming rate.

River Seine ‘Teeming’ With Life
Decades of restoration efforts are yielding positive results as dozens of species of fish return to the once-polluted waterway.
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 Brookings
City of White Salmon
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
M-NCPPC Prince George's County Planning Department
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service