Michigan

How People Talk About Blight and Vacancies
The kinds of words and arguments people use to describe blight, foreclosure, and eviction reveals a lot of society's biases.

Startup Allows People To Invest In Affordable Housing
New tool empowers neighbors to invest in their forgotten neighborhoods, and create wealth while doing so.

Report: Streetcars Were Always for Developers
Streetsblog digs into the literature on streetcars and finds evidence that the transit mode du jour was never intended to benefit transit users.

300,000 Michigan Drivers' Debt Forgiven
Michigan to grant amnesty to 300,000 drivers whose licenses were taken from them because they were too poor to pay the "Driver Responsibility Fee."

Lake Erie Algae Bloom Growing Again
The algae bloom in Lake Erie has spread to cover much of the edge of Lake Eerie near Toledo, but toxins remain low where local communities draw drinking water supply.

Ridership Drops As Detroit's QLine Streetcar Starts Charging
Since Detroit's new streetcar system started charging, ridership has dropped. Those who are riding aren't necessarily paying anyways.

Organization Sets Up Tents to Shelter Homeless in Detroit
A civil rights organization has taken direct action to provide support for homeless people living in Detroit.

Community Mapping Project Pays Off in More Ways Than One for Flint
The community's hard work has helped Flint planners take an inventory of its building stock, as well as secure needed funding from the federal government.

Canadian Government Permits Another Privately Owned Bridge From Detroit
Soon there could be a second cable-stayed bridge connecting Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Canada, running alongside the existing Ambassador Bridge and owned by the same private entity.

A Grand Opening for Detroit's New Downtown Sports and Entertainment Arena
The Pistons and the Red Wings have a new home in Downtown Detroit—bringing all four of Detroit's professional sports teams into the same neighborhood.

A Demographic Portrait of Detroit
The 139 Square Miles report attempts to comprehensively report the realities of Detroit, without commentary or critique.

Friday Eye Candy: Portraits Made Public—For Community Awareness and Placemaking
The "Inside Out Project: We Are Edison" installation posted large portraits of residents in the Kalamazoo neighborhood of Edison on the side of a building. The exhibition invites the community to take a look at itself.

Detroit's QLine Streetcar to Begin Charging Fares
Free rides will be a thing of the past on the QLine come September 5, but there will be more frequent headways.

Agrihoods Still Proving Popular
Agrihoods emerged in the 1990s as a master-planned alternative to the golf-centered communities of the past. Many of these developments are going strong, and gaining in popularity.

Detroit's Future
By 2040, Detroit will be bigger, more urban, older, and whiter predicts a report from the New Urban Institute that looks at trends, challenges, and assets of the Michigan city.

The Full Story of Detroit's Decline: The Shunning
The decline of Detroit can't be completely explained by the decline of the U.S. auto industry, according to an editorial commemorating the 50th anniversary of a five-day period of rioting and protest that resonates to this day.
Southeast Michigan's RTA Could Trim its Footprint to Build Support for Transit Funding
One way to get a transit funding tax plan approved is just to cut outlying areas out of transit taxes, and transit planning, entirely.

Tickets Keeping Detroiters in Poverty
Michigan suspends approximately 100,000 driver’s licenses every year when drivers can't afford to pay tickets and fines.

Michigan Suing Flint to Force Long-Term Water Contract
The news from Michigan serves as a reminder that the Flint drinking water tragedy, which started in 2014, still has not been resolved. The health of Flint residents is still at risk.

Southeast Michigan Testing the Cutting Edge of Connected Car Technology
The Internet of Things is quickly taking over roads, even before cars start driving themselves en masse around the world.
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