Alaska
The Most Toxic Place in the United States
The title for most toxic location in the United States goes to a remote, and perhaps surprising location.
Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund Reenacted
Unlike Trump's suggested quarter-per-gallon gas tax, this 9-cents-per-barrel tax is real. Like the gas tax, it goes to a trust fund, to respond to oil spills rather than build and maintains roads. While small, it brings in $500 million annually.
The East Coast's 'Bomb Cyclone' and Climate Change
When President Trump tweeted that the East Coast needed global warming due to the freezing cold, experts responded by explaining the difference between weather and climate. But climate change may indeed be a cause of the bomb cyclone.
Drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Allowed with Passage of GOP Tax Bill
When President Trump signs the tax-cutting bill, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) will have achieved a family dream of opening up the pristine refuge, created 37 years ago, to drilling.
Third Rail of the Housing Debate: More Density in Single-Family Neighborhoods
If California is going to address its chronic housing shortage, single-family residential neighborhoods can no longer be ruled "off limits." Opposition to a small Berkeley subdivision spawned new housing legislation and fostered the YIMBY movement.
A Local Perspective on the Future of the Arctic
Arctic communities have a front row seat to witness the effects of climate change.
Anchorage Buses Switch to a High Frequency Grid
Anchorage's People Mover bus system is the latest in a string of U.S. bus systems to reroute onto a high frequency grid.
Will Alaska Return Millions of Dollars for Bike and Pedestrian Projects to the Feds, Again?
Last year, Alaska returned $2.6 million of its 2013 Transportation Alternatives Program funding to the U.S. Department of Transportation due to a shortage of eligible projects to fund, despite having four years to obligate the grant money.
Downtown Anchorage Targeted for Revitalizing Infill and Redevelopment
Downtown Anchorage has languished for decades from the lack of redevelopment. Mayor Ethan Berkowitz seeks to reinvigorate the downtown core with new housing and other development opportunities. Most of the new growth has gone to Midtown area.
President Trump Signs Executive Order to Reverse Obama's Coastal Drilling Ban
So much for that so-called "permanent" ban that President Obama enacted by President Obama in December to end oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean and off the central-northern Atlantic coast.
Historic Anchorage Theatre Inspires State-Level Preservation Support
The Anchorage Historical Commission declared the 4th Avenue Theatre in downtown Anchorage a culturally and historically significant building that needs state protection.
New Year's Day State Gas Tax Increases, Decreases, and What Lies Ahead
Pennsylvania, the state that had the highest gas tax last year, saw the highest gas tax increase of 7.9 cents per gallon, the final increment of a 2013 law. Michigan's 7.3 cents tax increase, signed into law in 2015, is the second largest increase.
Anchorage Joins the Cohousing Movement
After five years of development, the Ravens' Roost Cohousing in Anchorage is now a reality. There are approximately 163 cohousing communities in the United States.
The Surprising Region with the Nation's Worst Particulate Air Pollution
It's not Southern California, with its ports and congested freeways, California's Central Valley, with its bowl-like topography, Houston, with its oil refineries, or the midwest, with its coal power plants. Hint: think Santa Claus.
President Obama Enacts Permanent Drilling Ban Along Arctic and Atlantic Coasts
In a precedent-setting action that supporters call creative and opponents view as abusive, President Obama has declared a permanent drilling ban off the Atlantic coast from Virginia to Maine and along much of the Alaska coast. But will it last?
Climate Changes Confront Alaska Villages with Wrenching Choices
Alaska is warming about twice as fast as the rest of the continental United States, and the state is heading for the warmest year on record. The government has identified at least 31 Alaska towns and cities at risk of destruction.
Alaska's Attempt at Clean Coal Technology Proves Costly, Problematic
An explosion on Nov. 2 forced GVEA to shut down the power plant earlier this month after struggling with a number of mishaps that have kept Golden Valley from bringing the Healy 2 plant online.
Planetizen Week in Review: August 20, 2016
Climate change dominated the news this week, as flooding wreaked unfathomable havoc on the state of Louisiana.
Faced With Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Erosion, an Alaskan Village Votes to Relocate
The village of Shishmaref would be the first town in the United States to decide to move in the face of climate change.
Welcome to a Changed Climate: It Even Floods When it's Sunny
A new report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration documents the increasing frequency of nuisance floods and "clear-sky flooding."
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Town of Zionsville
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.
