Driving

Transit, Not Traffic Reduction, Helps NYC Hit Greenhouse Gas Targets

Is New York City's green transportation revolution overhyped? It turns out that emissions from private cars actually increased between 2007 and 2009, and that almost none of the city's greenhouse gas reductions came from the transportation sector.

October 5, 2010 - Streetsblog

Transportation Research Helped Create Sprawl, New Report Says

We've been measuring traffic congestion all wrong, a new report shows, and that's been making more highways look like the solution to long commutes. They're not.

October 3, 2010 - Streetsblog

Sprawl and the Long Commute

Sprawl affects the length of commutes, according to a new study from CEOs for Cities. GOOD visualizes the data with this infographic.

October 1, 2010 - Good

Turning Cars into the Last Resort in San Francisco

As San Francisco update its strategic plan, the rhetoric in the boardroom is increasingly about reducing car traffic and use in the city.

September 24, 2010 - San Francisco Chronicle

Report Finds Driving Down, Roads In Good Condition

A new report from The Reason Foundation finds that the nation's roads and highways are in the best shape of the last 19 years. The authors contend that this fact is largely a result of fewer people driving due to the recession.

September 11, 2010 - The Reason Foundation

Hoboken's Innovative Car Sharing Program

Hoboken, New Jersey has instituted a new car sharing service -- one run by a rental car company that pays the city for the right to operate.

July 19, 2010 - The New York Times

A Driveable Future

An auto company has a new design competition to imagine a future city that is car-friendly.

June 25, 2010 - Scientific American

Does 'Grand Theft Auto' Make People Bad Drivers?

A new study says that videogames like Grand Theft Auto that encourage reckless driving may make it more likely that one would drive recklessly in the real world.

June 16, 2010 - The Christian Science Monitor

Americans Driving at 2005 Levels

Americans are driving fewer miles than they were a year ago, despite an improving economy. Some say the American demand for oil will be low throughout the rest of this year.

May 27, 2010 - USA Today

New Argument for Public Transit: Better for Texting?

In a recent piece in Wired, Clive Thompson suggests that the solution to the problem of texting while driving is not to stop texting, but to stop driving. The popularity of texting is a good reason to support public transit.

March 17, 2010 - Wired Magazine

Driving on the Rise in America

After more than two years of declines in American driving patterns, the amount of driving seems to be on the rise.

February 26, 2010 - USA Today

The New World of Roads in China

The New York Times reviews a new book about driving in China, and how the vastly expanding roadways are changing the Chinese way of life from the farms to the cities.

February 25, 2010 - The New York Times

More Terrifying Than Texting?

In this survey, drivers 'fess up to twelve distracting things they do while driving; and some are even more distracting than texting.

October 8, 2009 - The Chicago Tribune

The Social Life of Traffic

Traffic is essentially "an engineering issue," says author Tom Vanderbilt. "But there's also a layer of culture." That layer of culture determines, to a large extent, how traffic can become a problem. This idea is explored in Vanderbilt's 2008 book Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), a Planetizen Top Book of the year. He recently expanded on that idea for a discussion about traffic put on by Zocalo Public Square in (where better?) Los Angeles.

September 18, 2009 - Nate Berg

Protests and Anger As Country Readies for Driving Lane Switch

Samoa is readying itself for a countrywide transition that is shaking up the island country's roughly 200,000 people. Beginning September 7th, Samoans will be required to drive on the left side of the road.

August 26, 2009 - The Wall Street Journal

Drive-Thru Pollution

Leaders in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, are studying how to reduce pollution generated by idling cars at drive-thru windows.

February 20, 2009 - NBC DFW

Monitoring the Effects of Bad Driving

In an effort to improve gas mileage, 400 drivers in Denver participated in an experiment that tracked and reported the bad driving habits -- idling, rapid accelerating and braking -- that waste fuel. Faced with the data, driving habits have changed.

February 3, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

The Problem of Less Driving

This year, oil prices in America rose to heights drivers had never seen. So they cut back on driving. But that reduction is now causing oil prices to fall back down, and many say drivers will soon revert to old habits.

November 30, 2008 - The Wall Street Journal

Driving Habits Revert as Gas Prices Drop

Gas prices are falling, and drivers are going right back to their gas-guzzling ways.

October 31, 2008 - The New York Times

'Pay As You Drive' Insurance

'Pay as you drive' insurance will soon be a reality in California, surviving the state senate as a voluntary program that environmental groups say will encourage people to drive less by saving them money on their car insurance.

September 2, 2008 - San Francisco Examiner

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.