California
California Turns Toward the Sea for Drought Relief
The Wall Street Journal examines desalination efforts on the Central and South Coasts, starting with the reactivation of a Santa Barbara plant. Notwithstanding criticisms on costs and environmental damage, eight plants have been built since 2006.
Op-Ed: Terrorism Fears Cloud Los Angeles Stadium Debate
With as many as a half-dozen groups vying to develop an NFL stadium in Los Angeles, things were bound to get ugly. And they did. A report warns of a possible terrorist attack at one stadium site. The report's publisher? Backers of a rival stadium.
Photo Exhibit Focuses on How Communities Adapt to Climate Change
An exhibit at LA’s Annenberg Space for Photography looks at how different communities are adapting in order to become resilient to the threats of climate change - a review by LA County planner Clement Lau.
Another California First: the End of the Carbon Externality for Motorists
California's cap-and-trade market saw its largest carbon sale, $1.02 billion, thanks to millions of motorists now paying about a dime a gallon for the right to emit carbon for the first time since the program began in November 2012.
Los Angeles Releases 20-Year Plan for Mobility
One of the largest ongoing planning efforts in the city of Los Angeles is an update to the Mobility Element of the city's General Plan. A revised version of the draft "Mobility Plan 2035" was released in February.
Google Reveals Designs for New Headquarters in Mountain View
The design reveal is more than just a showcase for architects Bjarke Ingels and Thomas Heatherwick. The project also raises tough questions about how far suburban cities in the South Bay Area are willing to go to support the current tech boom.
Regulating the Little Free Library
The Little Free Library movement is a well-intentioned overture to literate neighborliness. In spite of lacking obvious drawbacks, certain officials argue it should undergo more stringent permitting.
Survey Finds Surprising Attitudes toward Increasing Gas Tax
If there's a solid take-away from the California Field Poll, it is not to ask residents how they feel about raising gas taxes, or any one option for that matter. Rather, offer a menu of funding alternatives and the results become more meaningful.
State Gas Tax Update: One Up, One Down
This has been an eventful week for gas taxes. To update two posts that appeared recently, Gov. Terry Branstad of Iowa signed legislation that increases the gas tax by 10-cents on March 1. In California, a board voted to decrease the tax by six cents.
Metrolink Crash Would Have Been Much Worse If Not for New Rail Cars
While all four passenger cars derailed in Tuesday morning's crash with a pickup truck, three on their sides, experts indicate that the new cars likely prevented far greater damage. Also covered is the locomotive push-pull issue and grade separations.
Op-Ed: Put Ecosystems Before Agriculture in California's Water Crisis
It's been another dry season in California, and the concerns of the state's many water users are not going away. An editorial by one of the state's largest newspapers favors ecosystem protection over the agriculture industry for the year ahead.
A Planner's look at Public Exercise and Fitness Infrastructure
Los Angeles offers many free or affordable alternatives to private gyms for exercise. Clement Lau, a Los Angeles County parks and recreation planner, goes on to review these resources in Los Angeles' public fitness infrastructure.
Q&A: New Orleans Planning is 'Visionary within the Envelope of Feasibility'
The following interview, as published in the 4th Edition of the Planetizen Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs, features Jason Neville, senior planner for the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority.
Iowa on Verge of 10-Cent Hike in Gas Tax—An Increase of 44.44 Percent
If Republican Governor Terry Branstad signs the bi-partisan bill as signs indicate, the increase will be the most significant state transportation funding legislation since Republican Gov. Matt Mead of Wyoming signed a 10-cent increase two years ago.
Truck Causes Fiery Metrolink Crash in Southern California
All four cars* of a Metrolink train derailed sending 28 people to the hospital, four with critical injuries. The southbound Ventura line train was headed to Union Station Los Angeles when it hit the produce truck at 5:45 AM.
Early Returns for the 'goBerkeley' Market-Pricing Parking Experiment
A three-year pilot program of market-pricing for parking in the university town of Berkeley, California is already revealing surprising realities about parking demand in the city.
A Roadmap for Late-Night Transit Service in the Bay Area
A report called "The Other 9-to-5," released this week by the San Francisco Late Night Transportation Working Group, maps out late night transportation options around the Bay Area and provides recommendations for permanently expanding service.
Worst Droughts in a Millennium Predicted for Western United States
Research uncovers more evidence for possibly decades-long droughts. Climate change is the likely culprit in effects that may challenge infrastructure and agricultural output throughout the century.
Re-Zoning For Walkability
It often seems that streetscapes' appearances and forms are immutable, but Los Angeles is trying something new. Through a herculean effort called Recode: LA, Los Angeles is rewriting its codes and, consequently, may change how its streets look.
Transportation Start-up Fails for Being Too Public-Minded
Night School, planning to use school bus fleets to supplement late-night Bay Area transit, lost the regulatory fights Uber and Lyft handily won.
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.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
