California

Transit May Not Reduce Congestion—But It's Still Important

Laura Bliss argues that rather than promise to reduce congestion, Los Angeles Metro should embrace its real beneficiaries: non-drivers.

April 16, 2016 - CityLab

Los Angeles' Plan to Keep 'Bootleg' Units Affordable

Los Angeles is moving toward creating a path to amnesty and affordability for habitable, but unpermitted residential units.

April 16, 2016 - Los Angeles Times

California Environmental Law Continues to Frustrate Bike Planning (for Now)

Help is on the way. The law that requires the governor's planning office to devise an alternative method for measuring vehicle traffic for environmental compliance will also take up where an earlier law that exempted bike lanes from CEQA left off.

April 16, 2016 - Los Angeles Times

A Critical Take on Public Engagement

Zelda Bronstein makes plenty of points likely to inspire disagreement among planners in this argument calling for a better form of public engagement—one that's substantive and integral, not an afterthought.

April 14, 2016 - 48 hills

Kentucky Governor Signs No-Toll Bill, Likely Sets Back Ohio River Bridge 10 Years

As promised, Gov. Matt Bevin signed the P3 bill that allows private funding, but bans tolls, to pay for the $2.6 billion Brent Spence Bridge project over the Ohio River that connects Covington, Ky. to Cincinnati. Now he needs to find the funding.

April 14, 2016 - Cincinnati Enquirer

Feds to Investigate Possible Misuse of Funds for Controversial Bay Delta Tunnel Project

A highly controversial project that would build a system of tunnels to divert water from the Sacramento River, and a signature project of California Governor Jerry Brown, now finds itself in trouble with federal investigators.

April 14, 2016 - KPCC

Mountain Bike

Environmentalists Disagree On Bikes in the Wild

Environmental groups are split over legislation that would remove the nationwide ban on bicycles in the wild.

April 13, 2016 - The Oregonian

beach Parking

Better Parking, Better Cities

Reformed parking regulations will improve the quality of urban environments. They might even allow to once again construct building types we appreciate only in older cities, but could never imagine building with today’s parking requirements.

April 12, 2016 - Gerhard Mayer

City Study Finds Lots of Illegal Airbnb Listings in San Francisco

Despite Airbnb's promises to better regulate the hosts that use their site, and despite legislation approved a little over a year ago by the city, abuse of short-term rentals is rampant in San Francisco.

April 11, 2016 - Curbed SF

Bus Only

Rebecca Solnit: Public Transit Is Greater Than Self-Driving Cars

Rebecca Solnit writes a pointed criticism of the wave of optimism attached to the self-driving car. Her preference: public transit.

April 11, 2016 - The Guardian

Legal Spat Over Plan to Widen I-405 in Orange County

Orange County, California transportation officials want to widen the 405 to reduce travel times and ease predicted congestion. The cities of Seal Beach and Long Beach are concerned about how that will impact traffic on surface streets.

April 11, 2016 - KPCC

'Back to Normal' for BART's East Bay Commuters...Maybe

Two 'good news' stories greeted suffering BART riders this past week. First, service was back to normal between North Concord and Pittsburg/Bay Point stations. Second, new cars have arrived, though they will not be put into service until December.

April 10, 2016 - ABC KGO TV 7 - San Francisco

Court Ruling Deals Blows to Granny Flat Permits in Los Angeles

Granny flats, also known as mother-in-law units or accessory dwelling units, are a hot button item in most cities. A county court recently took the city of Los Angeles' finger off the button, so to speak.

April 10, 2016 - KPCC

A Housing Boom in San Francisco?

We've seen builders responding to high demand for residential housing Manhattan and Seattle, but could it be happening in San Francisco? Sort of, according to San Francisco Chronicle business columnist, Kathleen Pender.

April 8, 2016 - San Francisco Chronicle

Klamath River Dam Removal Moves Ahead Without Congressional Approval

A lack of Congressional approval almost killed a controversial dam removal project on the Klamath River in Oregon and California. The states and the Interior Department have found a way to proceed.

April 7, 2016 - Associated Press via The Register-Guard

LinkedIn

San Francisco Tower Takes On Many Meanings

Urban design critic John King’s aversion to LinkedIn’s new office space points to long-standing tensions in San Francisco.

April 7, 2016 - San Francisco Chronicle

Berkeley Releases Resilience Plan

Berkeley's Resilience Strategy is one of the first in the nation, and one of the first work products of the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cites network.

April 7, 2016 - Berkeley Patch

San Francisco Teachers Could Get Eviction Protections

San Francisco may move to protect teachers from "no-fault" evictions during the school year.

April 5, 2016 - San Francisco Examiner

California Scaling Back Controversial Delta Tunnels Plans

The planning process has revealed more modest potential benefits for the highly controversial proposal to spend $15 billion on tunnels to ease environmental strain on the Bay Delta.

April 4, 2016 - Los Angeles Times

Planning for a Network of Trails in the Heart of the Silicon Valley

San Jose, California's Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services has begun the process of updating its Trail Strategic Plan.

April 4, 2016 - San Jose Mercury News

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.

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.