Aging Infrastructure

Aerial view of Rapidan Dam failure in June 2024.

Minnesota Dam Failure Highlights Nationwide Danger

The Rapidan Dam isn’t the only one at risk of imminent failure.

June 27, 2024 - The Washington Post

Baltimore MTA Bus

Baltimore Transit Lagging Behind Other Systems

State-run buses and subway trains in Baltimore have breakdown rates far higher than systems in other cities.

March 29, 2020 - The Baltimore Sun

Metro-North Railroad

Op-Ed: Toll Revenues Could Fix Aging New York-Connecticut Rail Connection

Rather than bonds, an op-ed makes the case for electronic tolls to pay for improvements to commuter rail lines between New York City and Connecticut.

May 31, 2019 - Connecticut Post

Munich Train

Scarf Depicting Rail Delays Sells for $8,650

A German rail commuter recorded each day’s travel by knitting a scarf.

January 28, 2019 - The New York Times

Phoenix Aerial

Waterline Breaks Plague Phoenix as City Struggles to Keep Up

Pipeline breaks are a daily occurrence in the city, but funding for an expanded pipe-replacement program has been a contentious issue.

January 16, 2019 - azcentral

CTA Chicago

Chicago and New York: Two Transit Systems, Two Very Different Outcomes

Both cities have aging transit systems in need of major repairs. Chicago’s approach has helped turn the system around while New York is still grappling with its issues.

October 25, 2018 - The New York Times

Fish and WIldlife

The Dismal State of Water Infrastructure in Rural Kentucky

In a region where the utility is on the "brink of financial collapse," residents face outages, boil-water advisories and bills that come with health warnings.

February 14, 2018 - Los Angeles Times

Reimagining LA

P3 101: Comparing Infrastructure Procurement Models

Already a common means of delivering infrastructure in many countries, public-private partnerships are growing in importance in the United States, but how do they compare to other procurement models?

November 7, 2017 - Doggerel

Electric Cars

EVs Not Exempt From California’s Transportation Infrastructure Plan

Governor Jerry Brown and the California Legislature reached a historic agreement to raise the gas tax, but electric vehicle owners will now be required to pay a yearly fee, Will this impact EV sales in the US's best market?

May 6, 2017 - The Planning Report

Hoover Dam

10 Water Policy and Infrastructure Realities

In celebration of Water Week in the United States, as well as World Water Day, as celebrated by the United Nations, Brookings has complied a list of ten facts about water policy and infrastructure.

March 22, 2017 - Brookings Institution

Pothole Car

In Omaha, 'Reclaiming' Potholed Streets Means Unpaving Them

The euphemism refers to a cost-saving measure that's happening even in central districts, to the chagrin of residents. This reversion to gravel roads is one manifestation of a looming local infrastructure deficit.

March 12, 2017 - The New York Times

Feather River Dam

Dams Throughout the U.S. Fail to Meet Safety Standards

It's not just Oroville and Elko County. By 2020, 70 percent of the dams in the United States will be more than 50 years old.

February 27, 2017 - The New York Times

Spring Lake, New Jersey

Doubling Down on Infrastructure

The challenge facing the nation's infrastructure is massive in scale, requiring ambition lacking since the New Deal and Eisenhower eras. Building on those historic models, the following op-ed suggests a "WPA 2.0" approach to infrastructure.

February 22, 2017 - Armando Carbonell and Susannah Drake

Northridge Earthquake, 1994

Five Lessons for Resilience

Resilience is commonly understood as the capacity to endure shocks and stresses. But for Lisa Dickson, Arup’s resilience leader for the Americas, this definition is too limiting. Jeff Byles talks with her about five key lessons on resilience.

December 15, 2016 - Doggerel

Trump Sign

Malign Neglect? Urban Policy in the Trump Era

How much do we have to fear from the president-elect's policy plans for urban America? We can hope that he will follow his party's playbook and largely ignore the cities, but potential changes to housing policy are more serious.

December 1, 2016 - Shelterforce/Rooflines

Trans Alaska Oil Pipeline

A Great Lakes Oil Spill Waiting to Happen

Operated by Canadian oil giant Enbridge, Line 5 is an underwater pipeline running beneath the Mackinac Straits, which connect Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas. A rupture in the aging pipes could mean catastrophe.

July 5, 2016 - Pacific Standard

Times Square Historic

Conceptual Shift: New York's Growing Again

For decades, New York City's boom times lay deep in the past. Now that the city's growing again, Aaron Renn says New York may need to take cues from the Sun Belt, of all places.

May 16, 2016 - Urbanophile

'The Road Taken' Uncovers the Civil Engineer's Hand in Building America's Roads

Nathan Masters reviews the new book by historian Henry Petroski, "The Road Taken," a historical look at America's roads and the civil engineers who built them.

February 29, 2016 - Los Angeles Times

Syracuse Highway

America's Infrastructural Reckoning

Through the lens of Henry Petroski's new book, Tom Vanderbilt discusses why infrastructure, as we have come to define it, is such a fraught topic in American life.

February 27, 2016 - The New Republic

Video game door

What If Gordon Freeman Was a Civil Engineer?

The video game INFRA trades your typical Russian ultra-nationalists and Nazi zombies for a city on the verge of ruin. The protagonist, an engineer, is tasked with the seemingly mundane tasks that will bring the place back to life.

February 3, 2016 - CityLab

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.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.