United States
How Does Your Air Quality Rank?
Joanna Zelman reports on the good news and bad news contained in the American Lung Association's just released study, "State of the Air 2012." If you live in California, you may not want to read on.
America's Top Ten Transit Meccas
Real estate's favorite tool for gauging neighborhood walkability now has a companion for transit, Kaid Benfield reports.
Marshalling Public Support is Key to Funding Infrastructure Improvements
As repeated pleas for the need to repair and replace America's crumbling infrastructure go unheeded, a new report outlines "practical, actionable ways to sell the American public on the need to invest in the nation’s transportation infrastructure."
Green Infrastructure Worth Its Weight in Gold
Nate Berg looks at a new study analyzing the cost benefits of large-scale green infrastructure projects, which demonstrates that governments are wasting billions of dollars a year by not going green.
Eclipsing Smart Growth
After a decade in ascendance, smart growth is showing its age. As its agenda becomes "formulaic and even clinical," Kaid Benfield argues for the need to reinvigorate, or move beyond, smart growth with more attention paid to the quality of a place.
What Value Does An Infrastructure Bank Provide?
As the concept of infrastructure banks gets increasingly bandied about (see Emanuel, Rahm and Obama, Barack), Aaron M. Renn examines what exactly they do for us that we can’t already do.
City Deficits "Driven" by Suburban Patterns
As San Diego is paralyzed by the cost to maintain its infrastructure, Howard Blackson revels in a eureka moment, provided by Chuck Marohn, in recognizing the city's explicitly suburban pattern of development is a well-documented financial blunder.
The Biggest NYC Infrastructure Project You Haven't Heard of...
NYC's long-declining waterfront industry is expected to experience a new boom time, as the expansion of the Panama Canal will allow double the cargo and much larger ships to call at New York's harbor by 2024.
House Passes Next Transportation Extension, Defying Obama
With the March 31, three-month transportation extension signed, the House passed another to begin July 1. It includes the authorization of the Keystone XL Pipeline in defiance to the President. The next step is a conference committee with the Senate
New Toolkit Aims to Educate Leaders on How to Support Entrepreneurship and Small Businesses
Using case studies from across the country, a toolkit released earlier this month by the National League of Cities aims to provide local leaders with concrete strategies to assist the growth of their local entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Small Town Charm: 20 Great American Hamlets
With the help of a little GIS wizardry, Susan Spano and Aviva Shen map the 20 most cultured small towns in the U.S., from Gig Harbor, WA to Naples, FL and everywhere in between.
Using Social Media to Understand Planning Trends
Brittany Kubinski and Jennifer Evans-Cowley turn to twitter for a detailed analysis of the trends that emerged from this year's APA national conference, and for a comparison to last year's popular topics.
Should Bike Share Be Financially Self-Sufficient?
As bike share systems spread across the country, Danielle Kurtzleben looks at their profitability, or lack thereof, and asks whether cash-strapped cities or the federal government will want to sink money into systems that struggle to break even.
Zoning Children Out of a Good Education
Nate Berg examines new research linking restrictive land use regulations to academically stratified neighborhoods.
The Dream Team Behind America's Transportation Revolution
In the first of a five-part series, Angie Schmitt pays tribute to three "visionary bureaucrats" who are changing the face of transportation in the United States.
Refuting the Recent Food Access and Obesity Findings
Allison Karpyn, Ph.D., director of research and evaluation for the Food Trust, shares her doubts about the overall implications of recent studies questioning the concept of Food Deserts and their connection to obesity.
Ranking America's Hipster Havens
Katrina Brown Hunt ranks America's top ten cities for hipsters with the help of Travel + Leisure readers, who voted in the magazine's annual America’s Favorite Cities survey.
The Tech Start-Up Revolutionizing Parking
Ariel Schwartz profiles Streetline and their suite of applications that are collectively transforming the way we manage, locate, and reserve parking.
Celebrating America's Top Main Streets
Writing in Travel + Leisure, Wayne Curtis surveys 15 of America's greatest Main Streets.
Planting Social Change One Garden At a Time
Emily Wax explores how guerrilla gardeners in Washington D.C. are taking over vacant lots and creating space for neighborhood gardens and vegetable patches, and building community along the way.
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
