California

Los Angeles River

Three New Bridges for Crossing the L.A. River on Foot

A plan for a bridge from Griffith Park to Atwater Village is the latest in a series of proposed pedestrian bridges over the Los Angeles River.

September 27, 2017 - The Architect's Digest

California Homeless

Lessons From San Diego's Hepatitis A Outbreak

Voice of San Diego reports in detail about the months of warning San Diego officials had about the spread of Hepatitis A in public areas around the city. Still, prevention measures took a back seat to bureaucracy.

September 27, 2017 - Voice of San Diego

Bay Area's First Climate Adaptation Project Could Be a North Bay Highway

State Route 37 is a vital highway connecting four North Bay counties plagued by two unrelated problems: chronic flooding during high tides and traffic congestion. Fixing the problem will set a precedent for Bay Area climate adaptation.

September 26, 2017 - San Francisco Chronicle

Cupertino

Is the Silicon Valley Past its Peak?

A lack of housing is responsible for an expected decline of the Silicon Valley's economic dominance, according to this opinion piece.

September 25, 2017 - Bloomberg View

Nimitz Freeway

Bay Area Not Prepared for Next Big One

As the death toll from Mexico's 7.1 magnitude earthquake on Sept. 19 climbs above 300, the San Francisco Chronicle investigates how well prepared the Bay Area is for an earthquake of comparable magnitude. Not very well.

September 25, 2017 - San Francisco Chronicle

110 Freeway

L.A.'s New Transit Oriented Communities Guidelines Are a Boost for Affordable Housing

The city of Los Angeles is taking substantive action to provide incentives for affordable housing development.

September 25, 2017 - Urbanize LA

Car Graveyard

Faster, No Matter the Cost

Kerry Cavanaugh argues that the interests of drivers are standing between California and the policies it should be pursuing.

September 25, 2017 - Los Angeles Times

Main Street

Cheaper Parking Bathed in Purple in Walnut Creek

A new on-street parking regime comes with a royal purple color scheme in a ritzy suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area.

September 24, 2017 - East Bay Times

Bike Center to Salvage Abandoned Building on Closed Military Base—Not So Fast

The bicycle community in San Diego came up with a win-win-win: an innovative bike center in an abandoned building on a closed military base next to downtown and a major biking route. Then came the real world of unreal bureaucratic concerns.

September 23, 2017 - UrbDeZine

San Francisco Bay

Battle of the Bay: S.F. and Oakland Sue Oil Companies Over Sea Level Rise

Two California cities are going after oil companies with a legal argument that recalls the legislation against big tobacco companies in the 1990s.

September 22, 2017 - San Francisco Chronicle

Salesforce Tower and 181 Fremont

Facebook to Expand in San Francisco

While everyone's attention in recent weeks has been on Amazon, another huge tech company has made a big bet on San Francisco.

September 21, 2017 - San Francisco Business Times

Pedestrian Signal

New California Law Makes Crossing the Street More Legal

Many pedestrians don't realize it's illegal to cross the street while a crosswalk is counting down until a cop is writing them a ticket. A new bill could change that in California.

September 21, 2017 - KPCC

Mexico City Earthquake Should Raise Questions About Building Safety

The epicenter of Tuesday's quake was in the state of Puebla, 80 miles southeast of Mexico City. Soft soil and unreinforced buildings magnified the damage. The quake comes two weeks after an 8.1 quake struck off the coast of the state of Oaxaca.

September 20, 2017 - The Washington Post

Los Angeles High Rise Construction

Downtown L.A. Sees Vacancies Rise and Homeless Populations Grow

There's plenty of housing available in Downtown L.A. for the wealthy but, while those apartments sit empty, many looking for housing find costs too high to pay.

September 20, 2017 - KPCC

Bay Delta Drawbridge

California's $17 Billion Delta Tunnel Project Had a No Good, Very Bad Day

The first water agency to weigh in on the $17 billion water tunnel project proposed for California's Bay Delta delivered a potentially fatal blow to the project.

September 20, 2017 - The Sacramento Bee

Moscow monorail system

'Automated Guideway Transportation' as a First-Last Mile Solution

Mountain View, located in the heart of the Silicon Valley, has commissioned and completed a study into the deployment of automated guideway transportation on two primary corridors.

September 20, 2017 - The Mercury News

Water Main

11 Dangerous Ideas in Water Management

California's historic drought might have been greatly relieved by last year's abundantly rainy season, but there are more drought years to come, along with more questions about how the state will manage its water resources.

September 19, 2017 - California WaterBlog

BART Train

Three Transportation Ballot Measures Could Be Headed to Bay Area Voters Next Year

The California Legislature approved bills to allow voters to decide on hiking sales taxes and tolls for regional transportation. Gov. Jerry Brown already signed a bill to allow San Mateo County voters to hike sales taxes for transportation.

September 19, 2017 - The Daily Journal

BMW Electric Vehicle

Funding for Electric Vehicle Rebates Approved in California

On the final day of the legislative session, the California Legislature approved a budget bill that directs $1.5 billion in carbon auction revenues. A prior post described a bill that would have quadrupled state EV rebates: but it died.

September 19, 2017 - CALmatters

Traffic

Op-Ed: Given the Chance, Congestion Pricing Would Ease America's Traffic Woes

Amanda Eaken offers up a defense of "Go Zones," otherwise known as congestion pricing. In Los Angeles and elsewhere, she argues, they could thin out traffic.

September 17, 2017 - NRDC

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.