Urban Planning
Basics
No, We Don’t Need Drive-Thrus — Even During COVID-19
Drive-thrus are terrible for pedestrians, congestion, and more – and we've found better alternatives during the pandemic.
September 23, 2020
Top Mayors Pledge to Build 15-Minute Cities For COVID-19 Recovery
It's not enough to give people more space on the sidewalks for social distancing, advocates argue. We also need to give residents places to walk *to* — and specifically, places that help them meet their essential needs.
July 31, 2020
Opinion: Urbanism is Complicit in Infra-Structural Racism — And Reparations Have a Place in the Built Environment
Municipal placemaking has long been an active effort to displace and erase Black people — and it is time to begin a process for atonement, says Destiny Thomas in an exclusive op-ed for Streetsblog.
July 27, 2020
Let’s Not Overthink This: Opening Streets is Easy, Says Urban Planner Mike Lydon
An urban planner looks at open space and reviews the good, the bad and the ugly among our cities (looking at you, Mayor de Blasio!).
April 16, 2020
Op-Ed: The Problem Is Crowding, Not ‘Density’
April 6, 2020
Portland Makes Way For Bike Parking
Lawmakers in the Rose City have mandated that big developers provide space for residents to store their bicycles.
December 6, 2019
Best Practices: Five Vision Zero Tips for Suburbs
The suburbs have a harder job than their urban counterparts to make streets safer, but one county outside Washington D.C. is showing that it is possible to cater to cyclists and pedestrians in a place built around the car.
December 3, 2019
Five Lessons From Seattle’s Crusade Against Driving
Seattle is proving that cities can reduce the number of cars on the road and shift its population to rely on mass transit. Here are a few of those lessons.
November 25, 2019
Seattle Sues To Keep Car Tabs And Save Transit
Seattle leaders are not wasting any time to stymie a statewide ballot measure voters approved on Tuesday, announcing a lawsuit to block Initiative 976, which could drain tens of billions in transportation funding across the entire state by reducing annual vehicle registration fees.
November 7, 2019
Commuter Rail’s Potential Is Untapped
Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia have suburban rail systems that serve only 2 to 6 percent of commuters — but better and more-frequent service could appeal to people who are currently forced to use a car.
September 26, 2019
