Communities and municipalities have deployed a surprisingly creative menu of policies to increase or restrict access to beaches. The Public trust doctrine, it turns out, is in the eye of the beach-holder.

Tobias Armborst, Daniel D’Oca, Georgeen Theodore, and Riley Gold share an excerpt from their new book The Arsenal of Inclusion & Exclusion for Next City.
The book "examines some of the policies, practices and physical artifacts that have been used in the United States by planners, policymakers, developers, real estate brokers, community activists, and others to draw, erase or redraw the lines that divide," the authors write.
The excerpt focuses on a particularly scarce and coveted geographic resource, the beach, listing six "legitimate and illegitimate ways in which homeowners, municipal governments, and others restrict and expand access" to the beach.
Among the methods of exclusion listed are beach tags, like used in some communities in New Jersey and Connecticut, "Fire Zones" that restrict parking near beaches in New York, and fake garages that require curb cuts that minimize parking availability in Malibu.
FULL STORY: Six “Weapons” Cities Use to Keep You off (or on) the Beach

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

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

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

Over 71K Office-to-Apartment Units in the Pipeline for 2025
Adaptive reuse projects are continuing to bring thousands of new housing units onto the market as demand for office space remains low.

How Houston Can Be a Model for Housing Reform
The city builds more new housing than almost any other and has dramatically reduced homelessness, yet low-income families struggle to find affordable housing.

Delivering for America Plan Will Downgrade Mail Service in at Least 49.5 Percent of Zip Codes
Republican and Democrat lawmakers criticize the plan for its disproportionate negative impact on rural communities.
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