Transportation

Bike Cops

Seattle Police Department Demonstrates the Versatile Uses of the Bicycle

A May Day march on Sunday that turned violent provided the opportunity for the Seattle Police Department to deploy its bike squad for crowd control, and in more ways than you might think.

May 3, 2016 - CBS This Morning

Ford Headquarters

Ford Plans New Headquarters for a New Century

Following the example of much newer corporations in Silicon Valley, the Ford Motor Company is planning a $9 billion new campus in Dearborn, to be built over ten years.

May 3, 2016 - The New York Times

Paris Metro Train

8 Lessons from the Paris Metro

Transportation planner Dan Malouff shares eight insights into what makes the Paris Metro one of the world's great subways.

May 3, 2016 - Greater Greater Washington

Chicago Transit

Chicago's Transit Oriented Developments Becoming More Affluent

The city of Chicago is focusing its development incentives around transit stations, but the people moving into those neighborhoods tend to be wealthier than previous residents.

May 2, 2016 - Chicago Tribune

Presidio Park

San Francisco's New Park, Built Over a Viaduct

Designed by the same landscape architect behind New York City's High Line, a new park will cap San Francisco's Doyle Drive, connecting the Presidio to the shoreline.

May 2, 2016 - The Atlantic

Parking

Parking Benefit Districts Around the U.S.

As Pittsburgh moves forward on a parking management program to fund neighborhood improvements, take a look at how other cities have adapted this Shoup-inspired redevelopment strategy.

May 2, 2016 - Keystone Crossroads

Toll Road Truck

Toll Rates at Center of Controversy in Public-Private Partnership in Virginia

Elizabeth River Tunnels, a complex project involving a new tunnel, rehabilitating two existing tunnels, and extending an expressway, is financed by a public-private partnership that includes tolls that Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) called "exorbitant."

May 2, 2016 - PBS NewsHour

Denver TOD

3 Examples of Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Policies

Mobility Lab tackles the challenges of building affordable housing near transit (i.e., transit-oriented affordable housing) by providing specific, real-world examples from cities and states.

May 2, 2016 - Mobility Lab

Family Parking

Parking Reform in San Diego Starts in the Neighborhoods

Citizens and businesses owners are actively involved in modernizing parking policies and assets in San Diego in a district by district approach, writes San Diego parking guru Bill Keller.

May 1, 2016 - UrbDeZine

Rental Cars

Business Travelers Prefer Uber Over Rental Cars—Do Planners?

Change is afoot for transportation around destinations like Southwest Florida. Are cities like Tampa still planning too much for the old rental car model, and not for a future of transportation network companies, carsharing, and self-driving cars?

April 30, 2016 - Tampa Bay Times

Traffic

Why Do People Drive When They Don't Want To?

City Observatory digs into the history of a Chicago suburb to answer the question: "Why don't people who say they'd like to take transit actually do it?"

April 30, 2016 - City Observatory

Carfree Freeway

Righting Old Wrongs: U.S. DOT Goes from Urban Renewal to Freeway Removal

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx sees rebuilding America's ailing infrastructure as an opportunity to "right past wrongs," particularly with 1950s and 1960s-era freeways that bisected communities. NPR and Streetsblog describe the new initiative.

April 30, 2016 - NPR

Experts Weigh in on Decision to Move California to VMT as Metric for Impacts

In a significant effort to shift from sprawl toward incentivizing low-carbon transportation options, California is revising the way it measures traffic impacts of development projects under its Environmental Quality Act.

April 29, 2016 - The Planning Report

New Hampshire House Denies Federal Funding for Boston to Concord Rail Study

New Hampshire House Republicans don't like rail. By removing the New Hampshire Capitol Corridor rail expansion project from the state's transportation plan, they deny the state Department of Transportation $4 million in federal funding for the study.

April 29, 2016 - WMUR Manchester

Modern high speed bullet train in China

The Pop Culture Verdict: Transit Is Hip

Several decades ago, public transit was a distinctly low-quality way of getting around. Now, if we can believe TV and movies depicting the near future, all that has changed. Transit has become aspirational.

April 29, 2016 - Governing

Barcelona Bikeshare

Report: Bikeshare Makes Biking Safer

In the United States, not a single bikeshare rider has died in an accident so far. A report from the Mineta Transportation Institute considers why bikeshare may be safer than conventional biking.

April 29, 2016 - Vox

Philadelphia Market Street

A Plan to Make Philadelphia's Market Street More Like Main Street

Changing demographics and mobility choices along the historic Market Street in Philadelphia have planners looking for ways to implement a road diet and put safety first.

April 28, 2016 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

San Francisco Parking

San Francisco Rethinks the Costs of Parking

The debate over the impacts of parking isn't new, but San Francisco planners are hoping that their approach to parking will provide new mobility solutions in a growing city.

April 28, 2016 - San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority

Road Construction

Against Opposition, Arkansas Highways Expand

Although many local activists and officials oppose the trend, Arkansas state planners are considering major highway expansions in the Little Rock area. The state's highway department has demonstrated a pro-car, pro-suburb agenda.

April 28, 2016 - The Atlantic

D.C. Metro

The Root Causes of the D.C. Metro Crisis

The 40-year-old system, second busiest in the nation after New York's, has seen ridership decline since 2010 as the region grows. A major cause is "frequency delays." The Washington Post reporters state that the subway has entered a death spiral.

April 28, 2016 - The Washington Post

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.