Billboards

Supreme Court Case Could Transform Sign Regulations
If the Supreme Court upholds a lower court decision, cities could lose a long-standing right to regulate 'off-premises' billboards.

Criticism of San Jose's Plan to Add New Billboards to the City
San Jose banned new billboards in 1985, but a proposal making its way through the planning department would allow for a wave of new billboards in the city. One local columnist isn't buying it.

San Jose City Council Supports New Billboards
San Jose, California is suddenly taking a much more permissive approach to large billboards.

Artists Find Alternate Uses for Billboards in Los Angeles
With a surplus of unsold billboard spaces dotting Los Angeles, artists are using the empty spaces as canvasses for new forms of public art.

Miami Beach's Floating Billboards: A Nuisance on Water
The picturesque ocean front of Miami Beach is being sullied by digital billboards now floating off shore on boats, outside the reach of the city's authority.

Billboards Having a Moment in Philadelphia
A proposal to add billboard advertisements to a pair of city-owned buildings come at a time when residents, and the federal government, are already concerned about the proliferation of billboards in the city.

New Jersey Town's Digital Billboard Ban Found Unconstitutional
Overruling an earlier appeals court decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court has found one township's prohibition on digital billboards to be unconstitutional.

Pennsylvania Legislation to Address Billboard Impacts
Residents in towns around Pennsylvania are calling for regulations to better understand and mitigate the impacts of large digital and static billboards.
Billboards Still a Thorn in the Side of Cities
Cities around the world have continued to implement drastic measures in reaction to a proliferation of billboards.

Public Art and the Urban Experience
A retrospective of a billboard art exhibition at the 2013 Biennial of the Americas on the occasion of the 2015 Biennial's kick-off implicates an excellent model of citizen engagement and possibly some lessons for civic leaders and urban planners.
Kentucky Planners Against the Proliferation of LED Billboards
An op-ed from the Kentucky state chapter of the American Planning Association takes a strong stance against regulations that could allow the permitting of LED billboards along highways.
Coming Soon to Philadelphia's Center City: 3D Digital Advertisements
A Philadelphia City Council committee approved a controversial proposal to allow "Urban Experiential Displays" (i.e., large, 3D digital advertisements) in Center City.
Do the 'Art Everywhere' Billboards Support Art, or Advertising?
With so many eyes trained obsessively on mobile phones, the outdoor industry is supporting a campaign to place famous art on billboards around the country. Will people notice? Should they?

Billboards, Big Money, and (Political) Blight
Planners typically pay attention to the Supreme Court when a Fifth Amendment case, like Kelo v. New London, comes along. The recent McCutcheon decision is a case in which the court could have paid attention to planners.
'Urban Experiential Displays' Proposed for Philadelphia’s Center City
An outdoor advertising company has crafted legislation, expected for City Council review, to allow electronic displays at seven locations in Center City.

Coming to a Billboard Near You: The 'Art Everywhere' Project
Voting for a new project called "Art Everywhere" is currently open to the public on works from five of the country’s largest and most respected museums. The vote will help decide which images get placed on some 50,000 billboards this summer.
Billboard Blocks Long-Sought Development in Philadelphia
Inga Saffron tells the frustrating tale of how the owner of a lucrative billboard can derail an apartment tower planned for Philly's Old City neighborhood that planners have enthusiastically endorsed.
Billboards on Versailles, the Colosseum, or Venice Canals?
As the European financial crisis drags on, money for the continent's numerous architectural and historical resources remains limited. As a result, cities are looking for new revenue streams, including billboards and image rights.
Banned Billboards A Success in Brazil
Five years after Gilberto Kassab, the mayor of São Paulo, Brazil passed the "Clean City Law", banning all visual pollution around the city, both citizens and businesses are thankful.
Billboards Decrease the Value of Nearby Property
A new report focusing on the City of Philadelphia found that there is a statistically significant correlation between real estate value (as measured by sales price) and proximity to billboards.
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
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Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research