Contamination

Coal Ash Waste

North Carolina County Reluctantly Accepts Toxic Coal Ash Stockpile for $19 Million

Chatham County, North Carolina agreed to not oppose a planned coal ash landfill in exchange for $19 Million from Duke Energy, which would help fund environmental monitoring and disaster insurance.

June 20, 2015 - The Raleigh News & Observer

Chemical Spill Fouls West Virginia Water, Federal Emergency Declared

Three hundred thousand residents in nine counties in W.Va, including the state capital have gone without tap water since Thursday due to a massive chemical spill into the Elk River. All uses except flushing are off-limits. How much longer is unknown.

January 13, 2014 - The New York Times

The Trouble with Radioactive Water

Grist delves into the responses and repercussions of a recent New York Times story about contaminated water in Pittsburgh caused by a method of extracting natural gas known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking.

March 5, 2011 - Grist

A Natural Way to Green Brownfields

With more than 11,000 acres of brownfield sites in New York City sitting underused due to contamination, officials there want to get things cleaned up and reused. Urban designer Kaja Kühl offers this field guide to small-scale bioremediation to help.

November 7, 2010 - Urban Omnibus

New York City Given Power to Clean Up Brownfields

New York City has garnered new powers to institute cleanups on moderately contaminated sites, which could help revive hundreds of spots in the city that have sat empty or unused for years.

October 5, 2010 - The Architect's Newspaper

Reframing the Human Relationship with Water

Urban runoff and contaminated water are creating major ecological damage, even in the United States. One design competition has the goal of rethinking how we handle this crucial resource.

September 14, 2010 - Metropolis

Water Standards Out of Touch With Reality

American drinking water meets federal safety standards, but some say it's only because those standards are far too low and don't accurately reflect the potential for contamination.

December 18, 2009 - The New York Times

Park Built On Top of Contaminated Site

New public space has opened in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in an unlikely place. The new park sits a few feet above the contaminated grounds of a deactivated municipal incinerator.

August 4, 2009 - Metropolis

Worst Water Contamination Coverups in U.S. History

Contaminated water is bad news for cities, unless nobody knows about it. This post from Good looks at some of the most notorious water contamination cover ups in recent U.S. history.

July 21, 2009 - Good

Most Polluted Cities

This slideshow from Popular Science looks at some of the most heavily polluted cities in the world.

June 28, 2008 - Popular Science

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.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

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The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.