United States

Lime Scooters

Doing Urban Mobility Pilot Programs the Right Way

Pilot programs can offer useful insight to decisionmakers, but they need to be done for the right reasons and with clear goals and plans.

October 7, 2020 - Smart Cities Dive

Urban Sprawl

Questions in Calculating California's Housing Needs

As California moves to hold local governments accountable for housing production goals, a report finds a 900,000-unit discrepancy. Offered here is the Embarcadero Institute's response to criticism received regarding the report's conclusions.

October 7, 2020 - The Planning Report

Carbon Tax

Reducing Emissions From Transportation Would Produce Huge Health Benefits, Study Says

New research suggests that cutting greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector would have tremendous benefits to public health.

October 7, 2020 - Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Pittsburgh Steel City

U.S. EPA To Reclassify Thousands of Major Polluters

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated its new rule change will result in up to 1,258 tons of additional emissions of hazardous materials every year.

October 6, 2020 - The Hill

Coronavirus in Oregon

Strange Days: Outrage Absent as Businesses Reclaim Parking Spots

It took a pandemic, but the worldwide effort to move restaurant and retail businesses outside, at the expense of parking, is proving far less controversial than it would have before the coronavirus swept the globe.

October 6, 2020 - NPR

Chicago, Illinois

A Pro-Development Approach to Housing Affordability and Economic Growth

Decades of building housing on the fringes of metropolitan areas have mired the United States in a housing affordability crisis defined by a widening gap between the haves and the have nots.

October 6, 2020 - Vox

Stahl House Los Angeles

Can L.A. Accomplish Affordability with 'Housing Plus, Plus, Plus'?

Alfred Fraijo Jr., partner at Sheppard Mullin, shares frustration with what he sees as a state inaction on housing and L.A.'s legacy of piecemeal planning and outdated zoning.

October 5, 2020 - The Planning Report

Ambulance

Carnage on the Roads During the Pandemic

The National Highway Safety Administration released traffic safety data finding a huge spike in fatalities since the outset of the pandemic, but didn't mention the role of street design in traffic fatalities.

October 5, 2020 - Streetsblog USA

Coronavirus

Overdue Rent Could Equal $34 Billion by January 2021

As Americans deal with job losses and ongoing unemployment, rent bills are piling up and a wave of evictions looms on the horizon.

October 4, 2020 - Route Fifty

Parking Meter Fail

Transit Passes Are Way, Way More Expensive Than Street Parking Permits

Some might call it call it asphalt socialism, but public subsidies tend to only go one way in the United States: toward the car.

October 4, 2020 - Streetsblog USA

For Rent

Rents Dropping Across the U.S., but Especially in Big, Wealthy Cities

People are moving less and rents are dropping, according to a new report from Apartment List.

October 2, 2020 - Apartment List

2020 Campaign

What the Presidential Debate Revealed About the Suburbs

Trump has been repeatedly criticized for misunderstanding the suburbs, but former Vice President Jose Biden's take on the subject during the debate also missed the mark.

October 1, 2020 - Bloomberg CityLab

HUD

HUD Rule Change Allows Landlords to Use Screening Services Despite Discrimination Concerns

A revised U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rule makes it more difficult to submit claims of housing discrimination when a landlord's decisions is influenced by a third-party tenant screening service.

October 1, 2020 - The Markup

Brooklyn, New York City

Adaptive Reuse More Popular Than Ever, Study Says

The past decade saw more old commercial buildings transformed into residential buildings than any decade previous.

September 29, 2020 - RentCafé

Wall Street

Lessons from the Last Housing Crisis: How to Get Control of Properties

How to keep affordable apartments and single-family homes out of the hands of institutional investors if the coronavirus pandemic leads to a giant wave of evictions and foreclosures.

September 29, 2020 - Shelterforce Magazine

U.S. Supreme Court

Amy Coney Barrett's Only Property Rights Ruling, Careful, Narrow, Deferential

A month ago, Barrett dismissed a challenge to Chicago's deal with the Obama Center by rejecting a very expansive claim of a "taking" under the 5th Amendment and by showing great deference to the city.

September 28, 2020 - California Planning & Development Report

New York Subway Coronvairus

Looking Ahead and Way Back as the U.S. Passes 200,000 Coronavirus Deaths

It's been eight months since the first confirmed infection from the novel coronavirus in Washington state. As deadly as COVID-19 is, Americans should reflect when 200,000 died in a single month from a far deadlier virus 102 years ago.

September 28, 2020 - The New York Times

Highway Sign in North Carolina

Americans Aren't Likely to Start Driving at Pre-Pandemic Levels Soon

Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and gasoline production trends point to VMT in the United States staying ten to 12 percent lower than in 2019 for the next few months, at least.

September 28, 2020 - Eno Center for Transportation

Bank Owned

Wall Street Wagering on a Permanent Suburban Renter Class

Expectations that the economic downturn of the COVID-19 pandemic will create a wave of homeowners leaving the market, whether by choice or necessity, are driving big acquisitions by private equity firms and Wall Street investors.

September 28, 2020 - The Wall Street Journal

COVID-19 City

New Google Map Layer Shows COVID-19 Infection Rates

A new layer showing the seven-day average of confirmed COVID-19 cases started rolling out to Android and iPhones last week.

September 27, 2020 - The Verge

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.