The Puget Sound region provides a case study for the spread of poverty to suburban areas, and some region-specific recommendations for how to combat the challenges that result.
Robert Steuteville shares news of the new "Combating the Suburbanization of Poverty" [pdf[ report released this month by the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU). " "The suburbs are becoming far more diverse all across the US," writes Steuteville. "Low-income people are moving from areas with high access to transportation and services, to areas of low access."
The report focuses on the Seattle region as a case study of this national trend. The number of people in poverty in the suburbs around the region grew four times as fast as the number of people in poverty in Seattle and Tacoma combined.
Those facts are troubling, according to Steuteville, because "the suburbs can be a poverty trap" due to the extra costs of transportation that come with suburban living. Transportation planning in Puget Sound region, like in most metropolitan regions around the country, have not kept up with demographic changes in the region.
Among the recommendations presented by Steuteville in the article is to link the infrastructure investment generated by Sound Transit 3, approved in November 2016, to poverty reduction.
Read the full story: Why we should take suburban poverty seriously
Disaster Shelters Housing the Homeless in Washington
Structures initially intended to temporarily house disaster victims are serving a new purpose in Tacoma, Washington—sheltering homeless people and getting them on the path to more permanent housing.
Tools for Addressing the Suburbanization of Poverty
Suburban poverty is reading, here are a few ways to understand what that means.
Tacoma's Growing Transit System
Tacoma is growing, so the city is expanding light rail and introducing bus rapid transit.
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.
Housing is the top priority of Seattle’s sole new councilmember
Jenks campaigned on building 1,000 new units of affordable housing.
New tax cuts may slash $1.5 billion in funding for Miami transit, public parks
Amendment 3 will save Miami-Dade homeowners $2,700 in 2028.
Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania hope to finally advance climate goals post-midterms
The three states have spent years under Republican or divided control.
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