The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Governor, Regulators Standing Up to Dirty Energy Interests in North Carolina
Can a Democratic governor in a state controlled by a Republic legislature achieve meaningful emissions reductions from the state's energy utilities? North Carolina Governor Gary Cooper is trying.

Editorial: The Best New Chesapeake Bay Bridge Is No New Chesapeake Bay Bridge
The Baltimore Sun Editorial Board finds numerous faults with the state of Maryland's preliminary investigation of an idea to add another bridge across the Chesapeake Bay near Annapolis.

Uber's Complicated Story
Since its founding a decade ago, Uber has reshaped the world through a trajectory of highs and lows.

Lack of Traffic Safety Enforcement Blamed for Vision Zero Failures
Education, engineering, and enforcement are the three "e's" of Vision Zero in San Francisco. A lack of on of those "e's"—enforcement—might explain why more people are dying on the city's streets this year that any year since the city adopted Vision Z

New York City's First Outlet Mall Still a 'Ghost Town'
Perched on the northeastern tip of Staten Island next to the ferry terminal, Empire Outlets has only filled 26 of its 75 storefronts since a grand opening in May.

London Underground 'Waste Heat' to Warm City Homes
Part of a plan to move United Kingdom to renewable energy involves using heat from the London Underground to heat homes.

The Problem with Pilot Programs
Pilot programs are a way to test out a policy or program to ensure it is the right solution before investing significant amounts of money. But they also pose a variety of challenges.

Union Opposition Puts Brakes on 'Record-Cheap' Solar Installation
Under a proposed 25-year solar contact, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power would pay record-cheap prices for 400 megawatts of power. But the utility declined to approve the deal after a utility workers' union raised concerns.

Op-Ed: Street Safety Is a Matter of Race
What do traffic safety and gun violence have in common? A lot, as it turns out. In both cases, hard-hit neighborhoods tend to have suffered from historical disinvestment along racial lines.

Green Building Improvements Have a Friend in PACE
An under-reported loan model called Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, financed $660 million of sustainable building improvements from 2016 through 2018.

Ensuring Equity in Memphis Riverfront Development
One of the city’s biggest assets is its riverfront, but equity and inclusion need to be an important part of what development brings to residents and communities.

L.A. Times Editorial Supports Redevelopment 2.0
California's redevelopment program was killed during the budget fallout of the Great Recession. Now more state politicians see how tax increment devoted to development investments could be one tool int he state's affordable housing crisis.

Effective Strategies for Tackling Vacant Properties
Urban homesteading as a response to hypervacancy is in the news after South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg proposed the Douglass Plan while on the presidential campaign trail.
Wheels, Scooters, and the Centuries-Old Fight for City Streets
Through the lens of Phoenix, a look back at bicycles in 1893, scooters in 2019, and how the similarities of both betray a bigger issue: The dangerous design of city streets, which favor cars, create conflict, and have long put people at risk.

Tiny Homes and Big Opportunities in Detroit
A new tiny homes community offers vulnerable residents a chance to homeownership.

New Ideas in Urban Research 2019
Research questions and findings from Penn IUR's emerging scholars.

Columbus Makes Big Strides in Air Quality
Columbus achieved something no other U.S. city has managed: moving out of non-compliance with federal air quality standards for ground-level ozone.

Where State-Owned Properties Could Make Way for Affordable Housing in California
A recently published mapping project is the first step toward California leveraging some of it surplus land for the purposes of developing affordable housing.

When Microtransit Works as Public Transit, Explained
How to make Microtransit work. Hint: it's about coverage, not ridership.

How Transportation Technology Determines the Footprint of Cities
The Marchetti Constant, the willingness of people to travel for about a half an hour to get to and from work, explains the size of cities in history, and the metropolitan areas of today.
Pagination
Ada County Highway District
Clanton & Associates, Inc.
Jessamine County Fiscal Court
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
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.