As the downtown master plan of Baton Rouge turns ten years old, planners are looking at the next stages of development. They say eight factors play into making this and other downtowns successful.
"Plan Baton Rouge, the downtown master plan led by renowned New Urbanist Andres Duany, turns 10 years old this year. Most of the projects suggested by that plan have come to fruition, including Main Street Market and the Shaw Center for the Arts. Our downtown is far more vibrant than it was in 1998, but it still lacks the buzz found in cities like Portland, Ore., Dallas, Colorado Springs, Colo., or Boise, Idaho."
"Alex Krieger of Chan Krieger Sieniewicz in Cambridge, Mass., will lead the second phase of Plan Baton Rouge, assuming the contract is signed. Krieger, the former chairman of the Department of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, believes there are about eight common values all successful downtowns embrace."
FULL STORY: Eight is enough

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

In Both Crashes and Crime, Public Transportation is Far Safer than Driving
Contrary to popular assumptions, public transportation has far lower crash and crime rates than automobile travel. For safer communities, improve and encourage transit travel.

Report: Zoning Reforms Should Complement Nashville’s Ambitious Transit Plan
Without reform, restrictive zoning codes will limit the impact of the city’s planned transit expansion and could exclude some of the residents who depend on transit the most.

Judge Orders Release of Frozen IRA, IIJA Funding
The decision is a victory for environmental groups who charged that freezing funds for critical infrastructure and disaster response programs caused “real and irreparable harm” to communities.
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