Trump Administration

Highway Construction

$1 Billion in Transportation Grants Announced by U.S. DOT

The U.S. Department of Transportation recently announced $1 billion in BUILD transportation grants, once again showing a preference for car-centric, rural projects in selecting the winners of this competitive grant process.

October 12, 2020 - Transport Topics

Small Jazz Club New York

Trump Decision to Bail on Federal Stimulus Pushes Music Venues Over the Brink

Public transit, employment, homelessness, foreclosures—all hang in the balance as the federal government falters with a proposed economic recovery package. So does the prospect of going to a show after the pandemic.

October 8, 2020 - Vice

Pittsburgh Steel City

U.S. EPA To Reclassify Thousands of Major Polluters

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated its new rule change will result in up to 1,258 tons of additional emissions of hazardous materials every year.

October 6, 2020 - The Hill

Air Pollution

Report Quantifies the Effects of Trump's Environmental Policy Changes

With the signs of climate change all around, the effects of the Trump administration's environmental regulation rollbacks look increasingly dire.

September 23, 2020 - The New York Times

Ben Carson

The Hypocrisies and Troubles of Local Control

President Trump has opinions about the sanctity of local control that don't agree with his other opinions about local control. This is a cautionary tale.

September 16, 2020 - James Brasuell

Apartment renter

Landlords Facing Loss of Property and Income During Eviction Bans

Independent landlords struggle to keep up with the cost of rental units and continue to face massive income drops caused by eviction moratoriums. Some of them are pushing back.

September 16, 2020 - Politico

Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump

Trump Neglects Cities to the Peril of the Economy, Experts Say

President Trump is infamous for politicizing civil unrest in cities, but his leadership's animus to urban areas is found in policy as well, despite the importance of large cities to the nation's economy.

September 16, 2020 - The Washington Post

Jersey City

Costs, Delays Ballon on Hudson River Tunnel Project

Developers are baling the latest delays and cost increases for the Hudson Tunnel Project on uncertainty surrounding federal environmental review.

September 2, 2020 - ENR New York

Suburbs

What Trump Gets Wrong About America’s Suburbs

The Trump administration’s talk about protecting the suburbs is based on misrepresentations of who really lives in suburbs and what these communities need.

August 30, 2020 - The Avenue (Brookings)

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Ben Carson’s Clear Disdain for Fair and Affordable Housing

Carson has spent much of his time as HUD secretary attacking the housing programs, initiatives, and regulations central to the agency’s mission.

August 26, 2020 - Curbed

Methane

EPA Completes Rollback of Obama-Era Methane Regulations

The new rules are significantly less stringent in mandating repair of methane leaks and regulation of emissions.

August 26, 2020 - Scientific American / E&E News

Dalton highway and Trans-Alaska Pipeline

Plan to Auction Oil Drilling Rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Finalized

The Trump administration has a new signature achievement, in finalizing a plan to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

August 18, 2020 - The Washington Post

Campaign Rally

The Two Conflicting Sides of the Federal Approach to the Pandemic

While President Trump is publicly stating the virus "will soon disappear," his task force is releasing detailed, county-level data on how all 50 states are dealing with the coronavirus and making recommendations – but the reports are not public.

August 13, 2020 - The New York Times

Washington, D.C.

I Have Spent My Career Advocating for Fair Housing. It's Good to See Obama's Rule Go.

The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, as adopted by the Obama administration and scrapped by the Trump administration, didn't include the policy tools necessary to achieve fair housing in the United States, according to this opinion piece.

August 12, 2020 - Jonathan Zasloff

U.S. Census Bureau

Trump Decides to Cut the 2020 Census Short

The pandemic delayed the 2020 Census, and the Trump administration will cut it short. Experts say this could be the most flawed Census in the country's history.

August 10, 2020 - Newsweek

HUD

The Policy That Will Replace the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule

The Trump administration didn't just dismantle an Obama-era fair housing rule—it replaced it with a new policy of its own called Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice.

August 6, 2020 - Politico

Trump Sign

How Trump's Version of the Suburbs Gets it Wrong

Analysis of Trump's favorability ratings with suburban voters and the demographic trends of recent years could doom his recent messages regarding the Democratic agenda for the suburbs.

August 4, 2020 - The New York Times

Coronavirus Social Distancing

Campaign Launched to Halt State Reopenings and Start Over

During March and April, most states shut down all but essential services in order to "flatten the curve," and it largely worked. What happened afterward didn't. U.S. PIRG has organized a campaign to start the process over and do it right.

July 30, 2020 - CNN

Ben Carson

Outrage Over Trump's Fair Housing Victory Lap

President Trump took to Twitter today to celebrate his administration's decision to rescind the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, approved by the Obama administration to strengthen the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

July 29, 2020 - James Brasuell

HUD Secretary

Trump Finally Follows Through on Threat to Gut Obama-Era Fair Housing Rule

It's not clear if President Trump is aware that his administration has been working to rescind the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule since 2018, but he's recently doubled down on messaging that pit suburbs against the Fair Housing Act.

July 28, 2020 - Los Angeles Times

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.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

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.