The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

What's Hindering Regional Transportation in the U.S.?
Public transportation that serves regional areas makes sense, but the United States has been slow to pursue strategies and policies that foster these types of systems.

Op-Ed: Seattle Resilience Roadmap Feels 'Retrospective'
Natalie Bicknell notes several deficiencies in the roadmap that resulted from Seattle's participation in the Rockefeller Foundation's now-defunct 100 Resilient Cities program.

Op-Ed: Feds 'Obsessed' with Undermining National Monument
Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is under severe assault from the Trump administration, Stephen Trimble writes. Long the focus of preservation efforts, the protected land is being opened up for extractive uses.
Green Electricity for Lime Scooters
A new program that will incentivize scooter "juicers," the people who collect and charge electric scooters for a fee, to switch to green energy.
2004 Rezoning Didn't Predict the Wave of Residential Development in Downtown Brooklyn
Downtown Brooklyn is New York City's third-largest central business district, and a 2004 rezoning was meant to increase the commercial footprint in the area. Instead there's been more residential development than planners anticipated.

Denver Suburb Bans RVs From Parking on Streets Citywide
Lakewood is taking an aggressive approach to homeless people sleeping in cars on public streets.

Seattle Tiny-Home Villages Facing Host of Challenges
The villages offer much-needed housing for homeless people, but controversy is brewing over their operations.

Changes for Big Pipeline Project to Connect Utah to the Colorado River
A hugely significant water and power infrastructure project in the works in Utah is now only a water project.

Brooklyn Navy Yard's Transformation in High Gear
A Curbed feature details the ongoing transformation of a formerly inaccessible and inhospitable corner of New York City.

How to Prevent 'Green Gentrification'
A new report examines a range of strategies that limit the displacement effects of park projects.

Not Enough Housing, Or Too Much of the Wrong Kind
Permits for new housing continue to lag despite a long economic boom. For coastal metros, it's a familiar story of job growth outpacing new construction. In some Sun Belt cities, sprawl is the bigger concern.

Report: Dangers of Pedestrian Texting Overblown
Distracted walking is never a great idea. But in New York City at least, texting while walking only led to 2 out of 534 pedestrian deaths from 2014 through 2017.

Behind America's Fixation on Big Houses
McMansion or not, the American home is a good 600 to 800 square feet larger than the average in most other countries. Possible reasons run the gamut from policy to culture to personal economics.

U.S. Lagging in Making Streets Safer for Pedestrians
Pedestrian deaths are on the rise in the United States, but cities have been slow to implement effective policies and road design measures to change the trend.

California Needs More EV Chargers to Keep Up with Demand
Electric vehicle sales continue to rise, but the need for more charging infrastructure is increasing as well.

A New City of 100,000-Plus People Rises in California's Central Valley
Numerous master planned communities are popping at a quick rate in the Central Valley outside the city of Fresno, but just across the line in Madera County. A new city is envisioned.

Friday Funny: If BART Went Tudor Style
Trigger warning: this is going to get ugly.
Bike Lane Debate Continues in San Antonio
As a project to re-engineer Broadway in San Antonio continues, questions about where to put bike lanes persist.

Pedestrian Bridge Aims for Iconic Status in Cedar Rapids
Cedar Rapids took a crucial step forward on plans to build the Smokestock Bridge—a pedestrian bridge across the Cedar River.

Initial Site Plan for Amazon's HQ2 Finds Critics
A lack of architectural ambition and a focus on car transportation are two of the criticisms that have followed Amazon's initial plans for its second headquarters in Northern Virginia.
Pagination
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Ada County Highway District
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.