Public Realm
Reopening Main Street
A Long Beach-based urban design firm shares design tips for reopening main streets while balancing public health and economic concerns—making space for parklets, pedestrians, and al fresco dining.
Another City Opens Street Space for Restaurants—This Time in Suburban Chicago
Tampa, Brookhaven, Vilnius, Hinsdale. These cities will be the answer to a COVID-themed trivia night some time soon.
Tampa Closes Streets to Open Outdoor Space to Restaurants
A pilot project in Tampa is closing select streets to cars to allow more space for dine-in restaurant service.
How Coronavirus Has Transformed Italy's Urban Spaces
Italy has been hit hard by the pandemic, and slowing the spread of the virus has meant dramatic changes in urban life.
Car-Free Market Street Benefits Micromobility, Transit Without Ruining Car Commutes, Studies Say
Multiple studies have quantified the early results from a project in San Francisco that blocked most private automobile traffic from Market Street in the city's downtown.
Parking Study: Scooter Scofflaws Far Outnumbered by Car Scofflaws
The worst offenders of parking violations on the streets today aren't scooters—they're food delivery and ride-hailing drivers.
Legalizing Street Play
A Baltimore city councilmember thinks the city has misplace priority on parking by making it illegal to play in the street.
Planning Without Zoning: The Houston Story
Houston is famous in planning circles for lacking a zoning code, but that doesn't mean planners don't have plenty of tools to determine the future of the city.
The Atlanta Beltline—20 Years Later
The scope of the Atlanta Beltline's effect on the city has astounded most observers, including the person who came up with the idea first.
Is the End of Bangkok Street Food Vending Near?
Street food vendors are an integral part of the Bangkok urban landscape, but city planners want to see them gone.
Supreme Court Refuses Landmark Homelessness Case
A closely watched court case related to how cities deal with homeless people sleeping in public, Martin v. Boise, will not get hearing with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Supreme Court Could Decide on Homeless Public Sleeping
The Supreme Court will be considering for the first time whether the Constitution gives homeless people a right to sleep on the sidewalk.
Las Vegas Approves Homeless Camping Ban
The city of Las Vegas has approved a law that prohibits the homeless from camping in large swaths of the city. The measure provoked the opposition on most of the public in attendance at a City Council hearing this week.
Unleashing the Food Vendors in New York
Newly proposed legislation in the New York State Senate would bar cities from setting limits on the number of food vendors operating in the public realm.
Self-Scooting Scooter Startup Wants to Solve Clutter Problem
Autonomous micromobility could solve some of dockless bike and scooter share companies' largest remaining challenges, like the local availability of scooters and conformity to local and federal regulations.
The Case for Gender Mainstreaming in Transportation Planning
Like the curb cut effect achieved by the Americans With Disabilities Act, which benefitted a much larger cross-section of the population than the legislation originally intended, gender mainstreaming could multiply benefits in the public realm.
$604 Million Market Street Redesign Nears the Finish Line in San Francisco
Private automobiles could be prohibited on San Francisco's primary downtown thoroughfare, and already-wide sidewalks could be extended and smoothed over. The Better Market Street project is ready for its close up.
A Guide to Universal Design in the Public Realm
New universal design guidelines go a step beyond complete streets.
New Car-Free Public Space Remains a Challenge to Create
A new study from Drexel University's Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation surveys the obstacles and challenges making it more difficult to build car-free public spaces, like plazas and parklets, in Philadelphia.
Watch What Happens When Parking Disappears From an Amsterdam Street
Eve Kessler shares news of a new film from Streetfilms that documents the efforts of a neighborhood in Amsterdam to activate a street liberated from parking.
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.
Caltrans
Smith Gee Studio
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
