The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Amtrak

Virginia to Pay $3.7 Billion for 225 Miles of Rail Track

New passenger rail improvements for the Virginia Railway Express and Amtrak are on the way in 2020.

December 20 - WTOP

Homelessness

Life Inside a Sprawling Homeless Camp

Two New York Times reporters spent three months in the High Street Camp, a homeless community of 100 people in Oakland, California.

December 20 - The New York Times

Los Angeles

Affordable Housing Required for Development on L.A. City Properties

The Los Angeles City Council has approved a rule that residential buildings on city property will have to be 100 percent affordable.

December 19 - Curbed Los Angeles

Water SUpply

Colorado River Cutback Plan to Start in January

States in the Lower Basin of the Colorado River will contribute more water in order to keep reservoirs from reaching critically low levels.

December 19 - azcentral.com

Cruise Ship

California Proposal to Shelter Homeless on Cruise Ship

Oakland is looking at the possibility of housing homeless people in unconventional quarters.

December 19 - East Bay Times


Thailand

Is the End of Bangkok Street Food Vending Near?

Street food vendors are an integral part of the Bangkok urban landscape, but city planners want to see them gone.

December 19 - The New York Times

Backpacking

Retail Apocalypse Blazes New Trails

The demise of a beloved outdoors gear chain in Southern California suggests that no store is safe in America's high-priced cities.

December 19 - California Planning & Development Report


Stockton Foreclosure

Foreclosures Near 20-Year Low

Some areas of the country are experiencing stress in the housing market, according to the new CoreLogic "Loan Performance Insights" report, but overall it's a long-time since homeowners have been so stable.

December 19 - The Dallas Morning News

Miami-Dade Transit

Miami-Dade County Could Be Next on the Fare-Free Bus

A county commissioner is asking for a study of fare-free transit programs in Kansas City and Salt Lake City to inform the potential implementation fo a similar program in the South Florida county.

December 19 - Miami Today

Washington, D.C. Apartment Building

Is the Height Act Responsible for D.C.'s Sky High Housing Prices?

The Height Act is up for debate again in Washington, D.C., amidst an emotional debate about housing affordability.

December 19 - WAMU

Ontario, Canada

Plan for 40,000 New Affordable Homes Approved in Toronto

An ambitious plan to build 40,000 new affordable housing units in the next ten years will require the support of local politicians as well as elected officials at the provincial and federal levels.

December 19 - The Star

MBTA Green Line

253,000 Housing Units Possible in Boston With Transit Oriented Density, Report Says

Raising density around transit stations to a level already existing in some parts of the city would enable hundreds of thousands of new housing units in and around Boston, according to a thought experiment by the Massachusetts Housing Partnership.

December 19 - The Boston Globe

Good E Project

Adaptive Reuse Contributes to Ambitious Development Momentum in Dallas' Deep Ellum

With a massive development project called The Epic already under construction as a future home for Uber, a Dallas developer is turning its attention to nearby sites.

December 18 - The Dallas Morning News

Downtown Oakland

S.F. Bay Area Cooperative Offers New Affordable Housing Model

A California cooperative brings together investors to make homeownership more accessible and finance housing projects that help to slow gentrification.

December 18 - Next City

Climate Change

Mapping the Effects of Climate Change in the United States

A new mapping project from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania illustrates the consequences of inaction on climate change.

December 18 - CityLab

John Lautner

Homes Designed by Starchitects Face a Sluggish Resale Market

Value is in the eye of the beholder.

December 18 - Bloomberg

Amazon Fulfillment Center

Amazon's Omnipresence in American Cities

In Baltimore, Amazon is at the center of a complicated web of products, services, and industries that is virtually impossible to avoid.

December 18 - The New York Times

Bay Area Planner Accosted by Building Security

An extremely problematic encounter occurred last week when a black planner was accosted by security while taking photos of bike racks on the street outside of a luxury building.

December 18 - Curbed San Francisco

Ontario, Canada

Toronto's Biggest Story of 2019: Mississauga

The city of Mississauga is undergoing a transformation so complete that one Toronto-based write said the suburb is the city's issue of the year.

December 18 - Toronto Storeys

Houston, Texas

Rents Grow Fastest in Houston's Opportunity Zones

Rents have grown as much as 28 percent in the last year over the past year in the neighborhood of Midtown in Houston.

December 18 - Houston Chronicle

Post News

Top Books

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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.