Social / Demographics
Tampa Rejects Rent Control, Citing Legal Concerns
The city council failed to move on a proposal that would have implemented rent stabilization, opting instead to explore other avenues for preventing evictions and improving the cost of housing.
CDC Relaxes Guidance to Allow Most Americans to Ditch Masking
In a major reversal, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised the metrics and thresholds that determine when masking is recommended. Only 5% of counties met the old metric on Feb. 25; now 70% of Americans need not don a mask indoors.
Resilience Matters: Opportunities for Action to Strengthen Communities
In this hopeful and frustrating year, contributors to the Island Press Urban Resilience Project celebrate our collective progress and challenges in a new free book of short and sweet articles, op-eds, and interviews. Essential reading for planners!
The Uphill Battle Facing Section 8 Recipients
Housing voucher recipients face a gauntlet of challenges when trying to find housing. Nonprofits are doing their best to streamline the process.
Why a Complete Streets Makeover Went Awry in Philadelphia
The city pulled the plug on a proposed street redesign after community groups criticized the public engagement process for not listening to all local voices.
Houston Interstate Widening Continues To Threaten Communities
The proposed freeway expansion in downtown Houston has faced searing backlash from local residents who see the project as a relic of the era of rampant freeway construction and neighborhood disruption.
Housing Affordability Crisis Spreading to More Cities
Cities like Spokane, Washington courted new residents and businesses during the pandemic. Now, they're starting to wonder if it was worth it.
Fair Fares Program Criticized for Eligibility Threshold
Critics of the city's transit assistance program say limiting eligibility to people living at or below the federal poverty line excludes many low-income New Yorkers who depend on public transit.
Let the Endemic Planning Begin
The first state in the nation to issue a stay-at-home order to slow the spread of a novel coronavirus that humans had no immunity from became the first to release an actual endemic plan, complete with a fancy acronym, SMARTER.
The Pandemic Is Not Ending—But Restrictions Are
The science hasn't changed but the politics have, and policymakers are responding appropriately. Transmission of the coronavirus during the Omicron wave remains at an all-time high, although infections are decreasing globally.
Danish Paradox: High COVID Transmission Leads to Endemicity
The nation with the world's highest COVID infections per capita was the first in Europe to end almost all coronavirus restrictions. The decision comes with the declaration that as of Feb. 1, COVID is no longer a "socially critical disease" in Denmark
L.A. Councilmember Proposes Criminalizing On-Street Bike Repairs
Councilmember Krekorian's proposal to criminalize bike repairs and sales on public right-of-way has been sharply criticized as a cynical move that will unfairly target the unhoused.
COVID Deaths: U.S. in a League of its Own
An analysis by The New York Times compares current and cumulative COVID deaths in the U.S. to other large, wealthy countries. Data analyzed include vaccination, age and obesity levels, and public trust, all factors that influence outcomes.
How Policymakers Are Grappling With the Racist Legacy of Urban Freeways
In Michigan, the state's Department of Transportation is looking for ways to mitigate the damage caused by decades of urban renewal policies and reconnect neighborhoods cut off from amenities and opportunities by highway projects.
Considering Geographic Equity
What do we owe poor cities?
The Pandemic Era
"We are living in the Covid-19 era, not the Covid-19 crisis," Allan Brandt, a historian of science and medicine at Harvard University, told Gina Kolata of the New York Times last October in a review of past pandemics and what we can learn from them.
The Great Plains Real Estate Boom
Cities on the Great Plains were giving away land in recent decades in the hopes of attracting new residents. Now they have a different challenge: responding to a sudden, but still modest, spike in demand.
Beware Endemics!
The pandemic will end and SARS-CoV-2 may evolve to become a mild, endemic cold coronavirus, warns Aris Katzourakis, a professor of viral evolution and genomics in an opinion for Nature. Examples of other endemic diseases are malaria and tuberculosis.
COVID Zero: The High Price of Containment
Vision Zero: a strategy to eliminate road crashes, particularly those with fatal outcomes. COVID Zero: a strategy to end coronavirus transmission. Only one has worked—but at a steep price.
Mapping the Growth of the U.S. Hispanic Population
Almost every county in the country has more Hispanics than in 2010, according to recent Census data now searchable by interactive map.
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.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
