California

New Study Underway: Do Ride-Hailing Services Reduce Car Ownership?

The University of California, Berkeley and NRDC will team-up to verify whether Uber and Lyft reduce car ownership and are thus good for the environment. Such data already exists for a sister form of shared mobility: car-share.

November 17, 2015 - The Verge

Downtown Oakland

To Connect Oakland—Remove the I-980 Freeway

A grassroots, ambitious vision called Connect Oakland is gaining steam in the East Bay city. The key element of the plan's ambition: replacing the I-980 Freeway with an urban boulevard and new housing.

November 17, 2015 - San Francisco Chronicle

Anaheim, Home to Disneyland, Proving Popular for Short-Term Rentals

Anaheim is struggling to keep up with a glut of houses in residential neighborhoods being used as short-term rentals catering to Disneyland's crowds. The city is profiting, but neighborhoods, perhaps, are not.

November 16, 2015 - Los Angeles Times

Google Bus Opponents Argue Need for CEQA Study in San Francisco Superior Court

On Friday, tech bus opponents took their case to court, arguing that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency must comply with the California Environmental Quality Act due to impacts including air quality and community displacement.

November 16, 2015 - San Francisco Examiner

Can California Kick the Oil Habit?

As the nation's third largest oil producer, California has a long history with the oil industry, yet it's also the birthplace of the American environmental movement. Lisa Margonelli makes the case for the Golden State reducing its oil addiction.

November 15, 2015 - Zocalo Public Square

The Time the Google Self-Driving Car Got Pulled Over for Driving Too Slowly

Google's response to its self-driving car getting pulled over by police in California: " "Driving too slowly? Bet humans don't get pulled over for that too often."

November 15, 2015 - San Jose Mercury News

Los Angeles Grand Park

Op-Ed: Over-Regulation Makes Public Spaces Exclusionary

A pointed editorial decries the over-regulation that has followed the renaissance of public spaces in Los Angeles.

November 14, 2015 - Los Angeles Times

Santa Monica Bikes

Santa Monica Debuts GPS-Enabled Bikeshare

Serving beach-side Santa Monica and nearby Venice, Breeze Bikeshare equips its bikes with GPS tracking. The program claims to be more advanced than an L.A. Metro system set to debut in early 2016.

November 14, 2015 - Los Angeles Times

Morro Bay Could be Home to West Coast's First Offshore Wind Farm

If a Seattle company gets its way, in a few years there will be 100 floating wind turbines about 15 miles off San Luis Obispo County on the central California coast, generating about 1 gigawatt of electricity.

November 14, 2015 - San Jose Mercury News

Palo Alto to Protect Single-Story, Eichler-Tract Neighborhood

The Palo Alto city council has approved one neighborhood's request to prevent the construction of two-story homes.

November 13, 2015 - Palo Alto Weekly

New Report Recommends Tough Medicine to Fix Bay Area's Housing Ailments

A new report by the Bay Area Council argues that the regionwide housing crisis demands a regionwide response, i.e., all nine counties and 101 cities need to build more housing, and if they don't, there needs to be consequences.

November 11, 2015 - San Francisco Chronicle

Los Angeles City Council Wants a 'Do-Over' on Mobility Plan 2035

Years of planning and strong political support aren't enough when the city council doesn't follow the letter of the law. Now opponents of L.A.'s Mobility Plan 2035 smell blood in the water.

November 9, 2015 - Los Angeles Times

Making Plans Deliver on Promises in the San Fernando Valley

The Warner Center 2035 Plan was designed to bring growth to Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley. If the opening of a $350-million Westfield Village in September is any indication, it’s succeeding.

November 7, 2015 - The Planning Report

A Rare Interview With One of L.A.'s Most Controversial Developers: Geoff Palmer

Prolific and infamous developer Geoff Palmer rarely gives interviews. So it was an occasion when he appeared before an audience at the Lorenzo, his lavish student-housing complex, to recount the philosophy and practice of his controversial legacy.

November 6, 2015 - The Planning Report

San Francisco Election Results: Airbnb Regulations, Mission Moratorium, Housing Bond

San Francisco voters rejected a moratorium on market rate housing in The Mission (Prop. I) and tighter restrictions on Airbnb (Prop. F), while approving the city's largest-ever housing bond (Prop. H) and a large mixed-use development.

November 4, 2015 - San Francisco Examiner

Oakland

5 Big Ideas for Oakland

People are looking for ideas in the Bay Area. Across the water from the calcified world of San Francisco, Oakland offers the flexibility and energy to build an equitable and dynamic resource that benefits the entire region.

November 4, 2015 - SPUR Urbanist

recycled water sign

San Francisco Leading the Way in Water Recycling

San Francisco's water district has become the first in the nation to require newly constructed large buildings to collect and reuse nonpotable water.

November 4, 2015 - SPUR Blog

Lombard Street San Francisco

Housing and Tech Industry Showdown on the San Francisco Ballot

In tomorrow's citywide election, San Francisco voters are faced with a suite of ballot propositions essentially offering a referendum on hot button issues like gentrification, neighborhood character, and supply vs. demand.

November 2, 2015 - The New York Times

Regional Planning Merger One Step Closer to Reality in the Bay Area

The Bay Area is one of the few metro regions in the U.S. with a separate MPO and COG, but that could change after voting members of both the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments agreed to a merger study.

November 2, 2015 - Contra Costa Times

Vision Zero Hero: L.A. to Hire an Artist for Traffic Safety Work

Applications are due on November 6 for a novel position in the world of traffic safety: artist in residence at the Los Angeles Department of Transportation.

November 1, 2015 - Los Angeles Times

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.