The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Study: EV Adoption Isn't Enough. Car-Centric Culture Needs To Change.
The focus on electrifying personal vehicles misses the opportunity to transform urban transportation systems, reduce congestion, and make cities more affordable.

Revisiting Vermont: A COVID Update
PBS NewsHour investigates the surging coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Vermont which, along with Rhode Island, has 75% of its total population fully vaccinated, the nation's highest, as the U.S. appears to enter a winter surge.

BLOG POST
Songs About Places 2021: 'Outside,' 'Lockdown,' and Memphis Among the Themes of Another Pandemic Year
2021 was full of songs that centered place in art's reckoning with reality. Were you listening?

Puget Sound Transportation Plan Fails To Meet Emissions Goals
A draft regional transportation plan for the Puget Sound region does not go far enough to significantly reduce emissions and meet climate goals.

Housing Policy Conflicts With Local Control in Maine
The state's proposal to increase housing density is raising concerns among city officials worried about losing local control over development in their cities.

New York City Mayor Goes Out With a (Covid Policy) Splash
Mayor Bill de Blasio's second term ends on New Year's Eve. On Dec. 6, he announced the nation's strictest COVID mandate: All workers in New York City must be at least partially vaccinated by Dec. 27. Did he consult with his successor, Eric Adams?

Seattle Weighs Protections for Mobile Home Parks
To protect a valuable source of affordable housing, Seattle's city council will consider creating a 'mobile home overlay district' that would preserve housing and regulate new development.

Prefab Custom Homes: Urban Multi-Family Game Changer
Steve Glenn, CEO of Plant Prefab, shares how his company is infiltrating single and multifamily housing markets with custom designed prefabricated homes to deliver healthy and sustainable buildings by design and at scale.

How One of Boston's Top Evictors Changed Its Ways
A major for-profit affordable housing provider hasn't evicted a single tenant since early 2020. How did the company do it, and can its method be a model for other developers?

Opinion: 'Instant' Delivery Services Could Decimate Street Vitality
The race to deliver goods at lightning speed has the potential to create 'dark cities' as street-level storefronts give way to closed-off warehouses only frequented by delivery workers.

PLANOPEDIA
What Is By-Right Development?
A by-right approval (also known as an as-of-right approval) is granted when a development proposal strictly conforms to zoning and building codes and, thus, qualifies for construction without requiring discretionary approval.

How Affordable Housers Perpetuate Past Harms, and How They Can Do Better
Some elements of affordable housing—from the development process to the way buildings are managed—are rooted in racist assumptions that dehumanize residents. Here are some simple ways you can be a better housing provider.

'Beg Buttons' Quietly Appearing at East Bay Crosswalks
Critics of pedestrian crosswalk buttons say the devices, meant to help improve bus speeds, give pedestrians the 'absolute lowest priority' on city streets.

Lessons From Five Years of E-Scooters
As cities continue to adapt micromobility regulations to address new devices and technologies, what can we learn from Chicago's five years of e-scooter pilots?

Experts Fear a Permanent 'Arousal Breakout' on U.S. Roadways
The reckless and dangerous driving that has been a hallmark of the Covid-19 pandemic could become a more common, permanent feature of life in the United States.

Atlanta's Buckhead Plans to Secede Over Upzoning
One Atlanta neighborhood is campaigning to secede from the city as the battle over zoning reform heats up.

D.C. Passes Short-Term Rental Regulations
The District of Columbia has approved final regulations for short-term rentals like Airbnb that limit rentals to owner-operated units and cap vacation rentals at 90 days.

'Daylighting' Project to Restore Nature in the Big Apple
More cities are returning waterways to a more natural state—in some cases unearthing them from subterranean pipes in a process known as "daylighting." A new example can be found, perhaps surprisingly, in New York City.

Biden Commits Federal Government to Carbon Neutrality
President Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday that aims to cut 65 percent of the government's carbon emissions by the end of this decade and reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

Senate Will Vote to Repeal OSHA's Vax-or-Test COVID Rule
Senate Republicans will target the Biden administration's private employer vaccine-or-test mandate using a law they successfully employed during the beginning of the Trump administration to recall a slew of environmental regulations.
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City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
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NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
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Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.