New York City

Key Questions Remain for New York City's Affordable Housing Plan

Although Mayor Bill de Blasio's recent announcements provided some important details about his administration's affordable housing agenda, there are a few questions still left to be answered that will determine the success of the plan.

May 12, 2014 - Crain's Business New York

How the Gentrification Narrative Gets it Wrong

A writer points to surprising statistics about Brooklyn—mainly that much of the borough is growing poorer as real estate prices fall—to make a point about how the common gentrification narrative fails cities.

May 9, 2014 - City Notes

Comprehensive Crash Data for New York City Released Online

In a big victory for safe streets, New York City has released to the public an online database of crash data for the city. Previously, poor and incomplete data made creating safe streets "next to impossible."

May 8, 2014 - WNYC: Transportation Nation

Ranking the Best City Brands

"The inaugural Guardian Cities brand barometer ranks world cities on everything from transport and weather to crime and social 'buzz.'" Guardian Cities released a trio of posts in connection with the rankings.

May 7, 2014 - Guardian Cities

New York Housing

'Housing New York' Would Invest $41 Billion in Affordable Housing

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the details of the "Housing New York" plan this week. The plan will guide the de Blasio Administration toward its goal of creating 200,000 affordable housing units in the city.

May 7, 2014 - New York Times

Study Finds Deteriorating Service on New York City Subway System

A new study analyzes thousands of MTA 'electronic alerts' to identify trends. One finding in particular jumps out: the number of alerts has increased 35 percent in two years.

May 6, 2014 - Capital

Can the MTA Speed Implementation of Communications-Based Train Control?

New York City is lagging behind cities like London, Paris, and Tokyo in implementing Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC). A recent report provides recommendations on how to speed up the process.

May 4, 2014 - Next City

Older Residents Left Out of NYC's Housing Mix

New York City's population of older adults is growing quickly—by 2030, 300,000 more residents over the age of 65 will live in NYC than its current population of one million. But providing adequate housing for older residents is not yet a priority.

April 30, 2014 - New York Times

The Hudson Yards 'Quantified Community' Experiment

Undergirding the massive mix of uses and investments called Hudson Yards is an ambitious plan to gather and analyze data provided by the 65,000 people a day who make use of the facility.

April 28, 2014 - FastCompany Exist

The Shard London

How Tall is Too Tall?

What is the best height to promote good urban living? It needs to be high to attain necessary density but not so high that it detracts from the quality of life, particularly for existing residents. In short, what is the Goldilocks height level?

April 26, 2014 - The Guardian

Friday Funny: The Subway Oyster Shucker

To some people (or maybe just this one person), the N Train in the New York City subway system in a perfectly acceptable place to shuck some oysters.

April 25, 2014 - The Awl

New York City's Most Serious Pollution Continues to Plague its Residents

Imagine living high above Manhattan but unable to open your windows because of soot-laden smoke from surrounding buildings. Toxic emissions from burning dirty heating oil continues despite a 2011 law requiring conversion to a cleaner fuel.

April 23, 2014 - The New York Times - N.Y. / Region

Pitching a Queens-Brooklyn Streetcar

Michael Kimmelman resurrects an old plan by Alex Garvin to build a light rail connection between the waterfront neighborhoods of Queens and Brooklyn, except Kimmelman would build a streetcar line.

April 22, 2014 - New York Times

Study Maps the Spatial Patterns of U.S. Environmental Injustice

A new study by researchers from the University of Minnesota presents a sweeping portrait of trends in exposure to nitrogen dioxide across the United States.

April 18, 2014 - The Washington Post - Wonkblog

Examining the Surprising Segregation of New York City

The common perception of New York City is as of a well-integrated city, full of multi-ethnic neighborhoods. But a recent article peeks behind the curtain of the city’s surprising boundaries of racial segregation.

April 15, 2014 - City Notes

High Line park NYC - Manhattan - New York City

The High Line as Symbol of 'Severe Economic Inequality'

A recent article in Salon cites the High Line as perhaps the most conspicuous example of how municipal governments are subsidizing wealthy corporate or private interests while many citizens continue to suffer low wages and benefits.

April 14, 2014 - Salon

Vision Zero Hits the Streets with First 'Arterial Slow Zone'

Delivering the first example of a critical component of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “Vision Zero” program, New York will lower the speed limit from 30 to 25 along Atlantic Blvd, which cuts through Brooklyn and Queens.

April 10, 2014 - WNYC: Transportation Nation

Boston Subway Tremont Construction

The Original Big Digs

The gridlock in American cities today doesn't compare to the crush on streets in Boston and New York City in the mid- to late-1800s. In The Race Underground, Doug Most chronicles the occasionally synchronous development of the nation’s first subways.

April 10, 2014 - Josh Stephens

What Does Citi Bike Data Reveal About New York City?

A website called I Quant NY has produced a string of posts examining recent ridership data released by Citi Bike. The visualizations and maps produced by the site make a good case for the value of open data.

April 9, 2014 - I Quant NY

High Line Crowds

Amanda Burden Gives TED Pitch for Public Space

Amanda Burden amassed quite a track record during her tenure as planning commissioner for New York City, like rezoning 40 percent of the city. In a recent Ted talk, however, Burden concentrated on the details that make for successful public spaces.

April 9, 2014 - TED

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.