Planning

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Lebanon Valley Rail Trail

Growing Use of Trails Highlights the Work of Trail Planners

Trails have become very popular during the COVID-19 pandemic. Find out more about how trail planners in L.A. County plan for multi-use trails and promote the safe use of trails.

July 28, 2020 - Parks & Rec Business

New Zealand Bus Transit

New Zealand Eliminates Parking Minimums and Height Limits to Increase Urban Infill

Once again, New Zealand shows the way! The national government's new urban development policy will eliminate off-street parking requirements and remove low height-limits near transit stations to encourage more efficient infill development.

July 28, 2020 - Stuff

Inwood Hudson RIver

NYC Rezoning Plan Reinstated Despite Lack of Racial Impact Analysis

The New York Appellate Division's First Department made short work of a ruling that reinstated the Inwood NYC Action Plan, which a lower court dismissed in December 2019.

July 28, 2020 - City Limits

Coronavirus in Oregon

The Great Debate: Will the Pandemic Alter the Course of Urbanism?

The geography for the coronavirus has changed, but most of the debate about the future of cities continues along many of the same lines as in the early months of the pandemic.

July 27, 2020 - James Brasuell

Washington, D.C.

How Much Parking Is Too Much Parking at D.C.'s Union Station?

Plans to expand and upgrade Union Station in D.C. might have gone overboard with parking, according to the public comments on the project's draft Environmental Impact Statement.

July 27, 2020 - Greater Greater Washington

Cleveland i-80

New Layer of Equity Analysis Considered for Regional Planning in Northeast Ohio

The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) is considering a new policy that will add considerations about regional economic inequities when evaluating potential highway projects.

July 27, 2020 - The Plain Dealer

Georgia

Roswell, Georgia Limits Multi-Family Development Despite Affordability Concerns

The Roswell City Council discussed how limiting multi-family developments could increase housing costs, and then voted to limit multi-family development anyway.

July 27, 2020 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Southern California Coast

Community Planning Groups Scrutinized for Demographic Disparities in San Diego

Older, white homeowners take up far more than an equal share of the seats at the planning table in San Diego.

July 26, 2020 - Voice of San Diego

Stockholm Master Plan 1962

Sunday Fun: What's a Collective Noun for a Group of City Planners?

Stephen Quinn, host of CBC Radio One's popular morning show The Early Edition, offered a prompt to the Twitterverse last week and inspired plenty of creativity.

July 26, 2020 - Stephen Quinn via Twitter

San Francisco Bay Bridge

Plan Bay Area 2050 Draft Released

A regional plan for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area is available for public comment.

July 23, 2020 - San Francisco Chronicle

Rockaway Beach Bus

Three Key Calls to Action to Improve Racial Equity in Transit Policy

Important changes are necessary to promote racial equity in transit policy, governance, and agency recruitment, according to Darnell Grisby, director of policy development at the American Public Transit Association.

July 23, 2020 - Bloomberg CityLab

Houston, Texas

How Houston Achieved Lot Size Reform

Nolan Gray of George Mason University and Adam A. Millsap of the Charles Koch Institute write about a recent article they authored in the Journal of Planning Education and Research.

July 22, 2020 - JPER

Orange County Great Park Rendering

How GIS Helps Plan Parks

With constrained budgets, a geographic information system (GIS) may seem like a luxury for parks agencies. But to perform data-driven planning and advance park equity, GIS is an indispensable tool.

July 21, 2020 - Apolitical

Beltway Traffic

Car-Centric Choices Shortchange the Walkability Goals of the 2010 Tysons Comp Plan

Ten years after Tysons, an unincorporated community in Fairfax County, Virginia, approved an award winning comprehensive plan, there's still work to be done to achieve its ambitious goals.

July 21, 2020 - The Washington Post

Coronavirus and Transportation

Pandemic Planning Must Reconcile With the Inequities of the Past

The ongoing debate about the role of marginalized communities in the emergency planning programs of the pandemic has now been detailed on the pages of the New York Times.

July 21, 2020 - The New York Times

Commuter Rail

Caltrain on the Rocks as Sales Tax Measure Fails

Advocates are concerned about the possibility of Caltrain entirely shutting down—less than a year after the commuter rail line seemed positioned for a massive expansion of service.

July 16, 2020 - The Daily Journal

Maryland and Virginia

David Alpert to Step Down at Greater Greater Washington

Leadership change is coming to one of the best local sources of planning news in the country, after Greater Greater Washington founder and executive director David Alpert announced plans to move on.

July 16, 2020 - Greater Greater Washington

New York Development

What Are Zoning Codes?

Local governments use zoning codes to define what can and cannot be built. While comprehensive plans and other kinds of plans lay out a vision for the future, zoning codes offer the legal tools to implement that vision.

July 15, 2020 - James Brasuell

Cities for People

Jan Gehl on 60 Years of Designing Cities for People

The 10th anniversary of "Cities for People" offers the occasion for this interview with Jan Gehl, who has devoted a 60-year career to ideas about humanistic city planning—ideas of increasing relevance in 2020.

July 15, 2020 - Jan Gehl

Highway Widening

Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Maryland's Big Highway Widening Project Released

The state of Maryland is moving forward with a highway widening plan that would spend $11 billion in a private-partnership to add toll lanes to two Capital Beltway highways.

July 15, 2020 - DCist

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.