California

Locking Trash Bins to Thwart Scavengers

Residents of Santa Ana neighborhood are locking up their trash bins, hoping to eliminate the noise and trouble brought by scavengers.

June 18, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

Masterplanning the Architecture of the Near Future

As the population rises, underused and empty spaces are going to fill in. How well the transition works depends on shifts in demographics and infrastructure, as well as architecture. A studio of UCLA architecture students were asked to plot that transition. But before they could be architects, they had to be planners.

June 18, 2009 - Nate Berg

Return of the Pedicab

The City of Los Angeles is writing a proposal to bring pedicabs back to the streets.

June 17, 2009 - la.streetsblog.org

"Grow Smart Bay Area" Report Released

With great fanfare, the Bay Area's Greenbelt Alliance has released a new report, "Grow Smart Bay Area", the premise being that future population and job growth can be accommodated by infill and by doing so, will add to the region's sustainability.

June 17, 2009 - San Jose Mercury News

No Reckless Walking on the Tracks!

Officials are trying to regulate jaywalking of the residents of East Los Angeles and Boyle Heights about reckless walking and driving on the tracks.

June 17, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

Neighbors Team Up To Build Community Garden

Residents in an Oxnard neighborhood install a community garden which will provide them with fruits and vegetables.

June 16, 2009 - Ventura County Star

Riding the Rails to CNU

A contingent of California New Urbanists arranged a special trip on Amtrak's California Zephyr in two vintage railcars to the Congress for New Urbanism in Denver. High-level discussion ensued.

June 15, 2009 - The Infrastructurist

How Difficult is Consensus?

The Los Angeles City Planning Commission delayed a vote on several proposed amendments to the city's cultural heritage ordinance because of a lack of consensus among the speakers.

June 15, 2009 - The Architect's Newspaper

California Drying Up

Climate models show that California -- the source of one third of America's food supply -- is running out of its reliable water supply.

June 15, 2009 - AlterNet

Toughest Recyclers In the West (Or Anywhere)?

The city of San Francisco approves a plan to require composting and recycling citywide by this fall, with fines kicking in within two years.

June 15, 2009 - San Francisco Chronicle

Express Lanes And Transit Headed To LA Freeways

The largest recipient of the U.S. DOT 2008 Urban Partnership Agreement are two freeways in LA County where carpool lanes will be converted to Express Lanes with dynamic pricing with additional, clean fuel buses, all funded by the $210 million grant.

June 14, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

Horse Tracks Place Bets On Infill Redevelopment

Several horse racing tracks in California have suffered declining revenues and are being redeveloped, with speculation about more closures on the way.

June 14, 2009 - California Planning and Development Report

Hundreds of S.F. Transit Stops To Be Eliminated

Municipal Railway officials in San Francisco recently unveiled a proposal to remove a certain amount of bus and street car stops.

June 13, 2009 - San Francisco Chronicle

Economic Benefits of Urban Creek Cleaning

Restorationists and environmentalists are placing their focus on urban streams and creeks, which struggle with urban pollution. Working to clean them up is turning out to be a good way to create jobs and stimulate the local economy.

June 13, 2009 - High Country News

Friday Funny: Elected to the House, But Abandoned Her Own

Congresswoman Laura Richardson has gotten on the nerves of her Sacramento neighbors, mainly because she's never around. As a result, her home has gone untended and turned into a blight on the neighborhood.

June 12, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

California's Classrooms Going Green

With what some are calling the worst classroom conditions in the nation, California is trying to solve the problem by replacing all of its portable classrooms with green buildings.

June 10, 2009 - Good

Handling Growth in the Bay Area

A roundtable discussion on the projected growth in the Bay Area of California, and the planning tools being unveiled that will help mitigate the projected increase of an additional 2 million inhabitants to the region by 2035.

June 9, 2009 - KQED.org

Nearly Car-free Housing Development: A Radical Experiment

Hayward, which is an East Bay suburb of San Francisco, has laid the groundwork for a nearly car-free housing development for environmentally conscious living.

June 9, 2009 - San Francisco Chronicle

City Twitters

The City of Santee is using Twitter and Facebook to protest a planned prison expansion on nearby county land.

June 9, 2009 - San Diego Union-Tribune

Caltrain: Fees Raised, Service Cut

Caltrain officials are planning to cut midday service by half, raise parking fees by 50 percent, and charge more for the monthly Go Pass.

June 8, 2009 - The San Francisco Chronicle

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.