Equity

Explaining the Importance of Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning
A term you need to know.

The Case Against Jaywalking Laws, Part 2
Laws designed to keep pedestrians off streets are not merely useless, but create a variety of social harms.

Pope Francis Taps Planners to Help Solve Climate Change
Pope Francis's unprecedented focus on climate change and the environment includes strong messages for planners and designers of the built environment.
Harvard Report: Fracking Yields Equity Gains for American Workforce
A new Harvard Business School report lays the economic and equity case for fracking—through direct and indirect job creation, America's middle class is reaping substantial wage gains and reduced energy costs. Renewables are also discussed.
Who Is the Smart City For?
In India, smart cities are being built with much fanfare and government support. However, critics rightfully worry that such models could end up excluding the very people who need its benefits the most.

Why Bikeshare Doesn't Appeal to Low-Income Commuters
While bikeshare garners a lot of attention from the white and wealthy, it is a less obvious choice for low-income communities. Difficulties include weather, time constraints, and overall demand for non-auto modes.

Building the Inclusive City
Income inequality, housing affordability, and residential segregation are big challenges that require more self-critical analysis and less civic self-promotion.
Highlights from CNU 23 Dallas
Having just wrapped up a great CNU in Dallas, April 29 through May 2, a collection of urbanists share some of the ideas that resonated the most.
Diversity Trending the Wrong Direction for D.C.'s Capital Bikeshare
The diversity gap between the population of Washington, D.C. and the membership of its model bikeshare system is well established, but it's also getting worse.

OneNYC Plan Released in New York
Meet the new plan; it's not like the old plan.
'Gentrification' Redux: Wealth, Opportunity, Community
Ben Brown wades into the wealth/income inequity morass to make a pitch for getting beyond "gentrification" squabbles and on to wealth-building strategies for the bottom 90 percent.
Say it Loud: Inequality is Bad for Everyone
There is an invisible culprit in the great scandal of inequality in America: your Econ 101 textbook. Go ahead, dig it out from that storage chest, and undoubtedly you’ll read that inequality, while we might not like it, is good for economic growth
Fair Housing and Community Development: Better Together!
Conversations about fair housing and place-based work too often lead to a perceived need to defend turf. Reece and Kriesberg got together instead to talk about common ground, using Rooflines as a hub for debate!
Race, Poverty, and Change in America: The Persistent Dilemmas of Equity and Equality
The themes of race, poverty, and change in America are as relevant as ever, as our nation grapples with the recent tragedies in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island, New York.
California to Cap Incomes Eligible for Electric Vehicle Rebates
A bill will attempt to bring some equity to the flagrantly inequitable rebate program that subsidizes purchases of Electric Vehicles. Additional subsidies would be directed to low income families. Rebates could also be used for car share and transit.

Road Tolls Are Fair and Benefit the Poor
Many people assume incorrectly that road tolls and parking fees harm poor people. In fact, they are usually less regressive than other funding options, and benefit poor people overall, particularly if some revenues are invested in alternative modes.
Mythbusting: Exposing Half-Truths That Support Automobile Dependency
Some commentators recently expressed outraged that governments spend money on cycling facilities. Their arguments are largely wrong, I’ll call them "half-truths" to be charitable, presented with great certitude and self-righteous anger.
Who Makes Better Parks, Planners or Landscape Architects?
Successful parks require good design in both the physical and the social realms. However according to Los Angeles County Planner Dr. Clement Lau, the former too often overshadows the latter.
Build a Better Democracy Through Public Participation
In the first entry in a series exploring the connection between the processes and products of Placemaking and city governance, PPS explores how "Place Governance" can increase leadership, equity, and cohesion among citizens.
Tough Questions for Creative Placemakers
The process by which creative types colonize a distressed neighborhood, making it safe for hipsters and developers, has become a common template for urban revitalization efforts. Neeraj Mehta asks who is served, and who isn't, by these forces.
Pagination
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