Billboards

Billboard Flag

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.

November 9, 2021 - American Planning Association

Public Service Announcement

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.

August 14, 2020 - The Mercury News

Vote

San Jose City Council Supports New Billboards

San Jose, California is suddenly taking a much more permissive approach to large billboards.

October 4, 2018 - The Mercury News

Bee is For Billboard

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.

March 10, 2017 - The Art Newspaper

Miami Beach

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.

March 3, 2017 - Miami New Times

Philadelphia

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.

November 1, 2016 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Digital Billboard, Edmonton, Canada

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.

October 12, 2016 - Rocky Mountain Sign Law

Billboard Flag

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.

June 22, 2016 - philly.com

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.

August 17, 2015 - The Guardian

Welcome to Detroit

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.

July 15, 2015 - Dean Saitta

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.

June 16, 2015 - The Courier-Journal

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.

February 25, 2015 - PlanPhilly

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?

August 29, 2014 - Pacific Standard

Billboard pepsi

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.

April 20, 2014 - Josh Stephens

'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.

April 9, 2014 - Philadelphia Business Journal

Warhol Billboard

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.

April 8, 2014 - Chicago Tribune

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.

April 13, 2013 - philly.com

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.

July 13, 2012 - The Washington Post

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.

December 28, 2011 - GOOD Magazine

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.

December 22, 2011 - Scenic America

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