District of Columbia
Completion of D.C. Subway Expansion has Commuters Wondering: "Where Will I Park?"
When four new stops along Metro's Silver Line open soon in northern Virginia, a familiar sight will be missing: a sea of commuter parking. While smart growth advocates applaud the omission, some commuters and nearby residents are concerned.
Cities Pursue Different Paths to One Goal: Safer Streets
In the face of rising pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities, the District of Columbia's police department began deploying automated photo enforcement technologies while San Francisco took a multi-agency, collaborative planning approach.
Are Older Residents Being Excluded from D.C.'s Revitalization?
There seems to be one common thread linking Washington D.C.'s new bars, restaurants, boutiques, and homes: they're all oriented to appeal to younger residents. Tara Bahrampour looks at D.C.'s struggles to build a multi-generational city.
Life in the Bubble: D.C. Area Becomes "A Megalopolis of Eggheads"
Washington D.C.'s suburbs, where so-called "super zips" of highly educated and highly paid households abound, have become an extreme example of the growing physical segregation of American metros into areas of poverty and affluence.
To Encourage Cycling, Time is of the Essence
What's the best way to get people to bike? "[M]ake clear the costs of not biking, in minutes saved or dollars not spent," writes Emily Badger. A new tool developed by Zach Rausnitz uses Google Maps data to compare travel times of alternative modes.
One of D.C.'s Prime Parcels Gets a Developer and a Vision
Two years after the historic Walter Reed Army Medical Center closed its doors, the transformation of one of the city's prime development parcels took a giant leap forward this week with the selection of Hines Interests to lead the redevelopment.
D.C.'s Metro Pursues Joint Development Opportunities Around Five Stations
With developers clamoring to build near D.C.'s expanding subway network, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) is seeking to cash in on its real estate holdings.
Pioneering Mixed-Income Project Provides a Model for Solving D.C.'s Affordability Crisis
When the Townhomes on Capitol Hill replaced the Ellen Wilson public housing project 14 years ago, mixed-income housing was a novel strategy. Now that such projects are common, what lessons can the Townhomes provide for developing affordable housing?
D.C.'s Guerrilla Gardener Gets His Revenge
Many D.C. commuters were saddened to learn in July that hundreds of flowers surreptitiously planted at an area Metro station would be removed by officials. But has the city's "Phantom Planter" had the last laugh?
How the Routing of Washington's Metro Led to Arlington's Success
In the premier episode of NPR's special series, "U.S. Commutes: The Way We Get To Work", host David Greene explores the background of the D.C. suburb of Arlington, Va., and how a planning decision in the 1960s was crucial to its vibrancy today.
Millennial Invasion Creates a "New Washington"
Drawn by plentiful jobs and an improving quality of life, millennials helped swell D.C.'s population over the last decade - to the delight of some and dismay of others. In a series of articles, The Post chronicles the city's "millennials moment".
Reuse of Old Bridges Elevates Urban Living
Melanie D.G. Kaplan examines a growing trend in adaptive reuse—the transformation of old and underutilized bridges into elevated parks, walkways, and engines of economic development.
Too Much TOD Set to Strain D.C.'s Subway
New development is poised to add thousands of riders to D.C.'s Metro, but rush hour trains are often packed already. Though Metro has proposed $6 billion in fixes, some see better land use planning across the area as the key to solving the problem.
Answers on the Nation's First VMT Fee Law
With Oregon set to implement their vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) fee program, Streetsblog's Tanya Snyder provides answers to ten questions, including the privacy challenge, that she posed to ODOT’s Jim Whitty, architect of the program.
A Modest Proposal for Improving Federal Housing Aid
Although the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher is one of the federal government's most effective housing programs, its administration by local public housing agencies limit its ability to de-concentrate poverty. A new report proposes a solution.
D.C.'s Neighborhood Committees Exert a "Great Weight" on Development: For Better or Worse?
Although they're not decision-making bodies, D.C.'s Advisory Neighborhood Committees (ANC’s) exert a powerful influence on the city's development process. David M. Schwarz Architects examine whether that's for better or for worse.
New Yorkers Breathe Easier as the City's Buildings Clean Up Their Act
A Bloomberg administration effort to get New York's most polluting buildings to convert to cleaner heating fuels has provided remarkable results, a new study reports.
Not So Fast Feds, Say D.C. Planners, We Want Major Changes to Height Limits
In D.C.'s ongoing height limit saga, the other shoe has dropped. Just two weeks after the federal government recommended minimal changes to the limits, their partner in the study - D.C.'s Office of Planning - has come to a very different conclusion.
Co-Ops Provide a Path to Preserve Affordable Housing
Unlike in New York, housing cooperatives are a rare find in DC. Tucked into neighborhoods like Logan Circle and Columbia Heights, they are "relatively unknown". But they provide a "great source of stable, affordable housing," writes Elizabeth Falcon.
Are Parking Garages Headed the Way of Horse Stables?
In Washington D.C., and cities across the U.S., many planners believe the decline in driving and auto ownership presages a major reshaping of urban land use. As the demand for parking spaces wanes, how will our streets and blocks change?
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
