Planetizen Newswire
Keep up with essential planning news and commentary, delivered to your inbox every Monday and Thursday.
Public Health
New research shows that excessive noise levels have significant negative impacts on heart health.
The Atlantic
Blog post
The latest in a series of compendia gathering news and analysis about the effects of the COVID-19 on the built and natural environments—now and long into the future.
Blog post
Some scientists and city officials are moving ahead with a different way to track the virus’s spread: wastewater testing.
With most gyms closed to the pandemic and its associated restrictions, more and more people are getting exercise equipment installed in their own homes to maintain their fitness goals and routines.
Outside
Travelers will be required to properly wear a face mask when riding all forms of public transportation, e.g., ride-share, bus, train, ferry, or plane. The rule applies to transportation hubs and boarding platforms. Not just any face-covering will do.
Slate
Research suggests maximizing airflow during shared car rides vastly reduces the risk of transmission.
The New York Times
If the combined effects of winter's cold and the pandemic has you bummed, check out this community-building exercise in the frozen North.
PlaceShakers
Controversy erupts in Toronto after the TTC informed transit employees that it isn't safe to carpool to work…driving people around on transit.
Toronto Star
To reduce harmful particulate matter emissions, we need fewer cars on the road—electric or otherwise, according to the findings of a recent report.
Treehugger
Feature
The pandemic has forced difficult confrontations with inequities that existed long before the novel coronavirus. L.A. Metro planners are responding by charting a path toward a transportation system that reverses and improves those previous realities.
California has reversed its decision to close playgrounds as part of the state's stay-at-home order after some legislators and parents complained and argued that children need outdoor play for their health and well-being.
CALmatters
Blog post
Planetizen shares the latest in a series of compendia tackling the effects of the pandemic, now and in the future, for cities and communities.
The beta version of a comprehensive new evidence-based platform called Streetsmart helps policy makers, planners, and advocates make the case for healthy, inclusive, and sustainable transportation investments.
Streetsmart
A new study connects evictions to the spread of the coronavirus. Evictions continued in huge numbers during the pandemic despite a patchwork of eviction protections at multiple layers of government.
Curbed
Record numbers of pedestrians have been killed by drivers in recent years. The federal government says a "team effort" will be necessary to stop the carnage.
Smart Cities Dive
As expected, air travel in the United States reached heights not seen since before the pandemic, but still fell well short of the norm.
The Dallas Morning News
In a late-night 5-4 ruling on the eve of Thanksgiving, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a governor's executive order to stem the spread of a contagious virus can not impede the right of people to gather in a church.
SCOTUS Blog
The visions of a car-free utopia that might have seemed like a potential silver lining in March and April have given away to a tragic reality.
New York Post
The Integrated Transport and Health Impact Model estimates how planning decisions affect public health, including physical activity, collisions and vehicle exhaust. This can help create healthier communities.
Integrated Transport and Health Impact Model
New research shows that increasing park acreage in areas that face park deficits and low levels of tree canopy could lead to significant population-level increases in life expectancy.
Parks & Recreation Magazine
