Texas

Plano DART

The Day after Plano Tomorrow

Planners in Plano, Texas are ready to pick up the pieces and move on from the demise of the Plano Tomorrow comprehensive plan.

August 14, 2020 - The Dallas Morning News

Houston, Austin, and College Station

Not Just New York: Reports of an Urban Exodus From Houston

A recent article about Houston residents fleeing the city for College Station reads a lot like articles about New Yorkers decamping for less urban climes.

August 11, 2020 - Houston Chronicle

Houston, Texas

Seeking '20-Minute Neighborhood' Status in Texas

The neighborhood of Montrose in Houston has undertaken a self-funded study to assess the facts on the ground about walkability in the neighborhood.

August 7, 2020 - Community Impact Newspaper

Downtown Houston pedestrians

Walkability Plan, Including Parking Reform, Adopted in Houston

The city of Houston is embarking on an ambitious plan to reshape how new development in the city prioritizes walkability, and deprioritizes the automobile.

August 6, 2020 - Houston Chronicle

Texas

Legal Challenge Brings Down the Plano Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan

Plano Tomorrow, a comprehensive approved in 2015, has been rescinded and replaced with the city's previous master plan, approved in 1986.

August 5, 2020 - The Dallas Morning News

Project Connect, Capital Metro

Property Tax Could Fund $7 Billion Transit Plan in Austin, Displacement Mitigation Included

A $7 billion transit investment plan for Austin would include $300 million toward preventing displacement of communities in neighborhoods located near planned transit investments.

August 4, 2020 - KUT

Houston Texas

Connecting Traffic, Air Quality, and Coronavirus Spread

Early in the pandemic, bike sales soared and vehicle miles traveled plummeted. As people have been driving more, more people have also been infected with the novel coronavirus.

July 31, 2020 - Rice Kinder Institute for Urban Research

Coronavirus Social Distancing

Campaign Launched to Halt State Reopenings and Start Over

During March and April, most states shut down all but essential services in order to "flatten the curve," and it largely worked. What happened afterward didn't. U.S. PIRG has organized a campaign to start the process over and do it right.

July 30, 2020 - CNN

Starr County, Texas

Beleaguered Texas Hospital to Ration Treatment of COVID Patients

A second county in the Rio Grande Valley has issued an unenforceable stay-at-home order to reduce transmission of the coronavirus. Its one overwhelmed hospital will implement a triage system to determine which patients to treat and whom to reject.

July 27, 2020 - CBS News

Mission, Texas

Texas County First in Nation to Issue Second Stay-at-Home Order

The first shelter-at-home order issued in the pandemic's resurgence in the U.S. took effect Wednesday morning in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, an overwhelmingly Latino region that has been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus.

July 23, 2020 - The Monitor

Houston

New Houston Housing Report Tells a Story of Under-Investment

A new report from the Kinder Institute for Urban Research highlights the state of housing the Houston and Harris County, and more specifically, the historically Black neighborhood of Settegast in northeast Houston.

July 21, 2020 - Rice Kinder Institute for Urban Research

Atlanta, Georgia

Georgia Feud Over Mask Mandates May Not Be What it Seems

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) has sued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) and the Atlanta City Council over the city's mask mandate, which is stricter than mask provisions defined in the governor's July 15 executive order.

July 20, 2020 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Coronavirus and Urbanism

Learning from Down Under

The governors of Arizona, California, Florida, Texas, and other states where COVID-19 infections are threatening to overwhelm hospitals should consider what their counterpart in Victoria, Australia, did on July 7 to contain the coronavirus.

July 15, 2020 - The Guardian

Coronavirus Protest

California Rolls Back

The nation's most significant rollback to date of a state reopening plan occurred Monday when California Gov. Gavin Newsom closed seven categories of indoor businesses statewide and an additional six categories of indoor operations in 31 counties.

July 14, 2020 - San Francisco Chronicle

Hospital Signs

From Ventilators to Ventilation: The Shifting Focus of the Pandemic

Ventilator availability is a major indicator for states in the South and West that are seeing record hospitalizations, but in New York, where Gov. Cuomo announced that New York City had moved to Phase III of reopening, the topic was ventilation.

July 9, 2020 - Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

Transit in a Pandemic

The U.S. in Free Fall

The U.S. has over 2.9 million COVID-19 cases; half of them were diagnosed in the past week and a half. On July 6, cases are increasing in 32 states, holding steady in 14, and decreasing in four.

July 7, 2020 - CNN

Black Lives Matter Protest

COVID-19: What About Those Protests?

While not conclusive, evidence suggests that relatively few transmissions of the coronavirus occurred during the widespread protests that followed the death of George Floyd due to the outdoor settings, being in motion and wearing of masks.

July 3, 2020 - The Washington Post

Volunteers

Advocates: Equity Lacking in the New Houston Climate Action Plan

Advocates and local residents are expressing concern about a lack of direct support in the Houston Climate Action Plan for underserved neighborhoods that have already experienced some of the worst effects of climate change.

July 1, 2020 - One Breath Partnership

LaGuardia Airport

Construction Costs Holding Steady During Pandemic

It might have been wishful thinking to assume the pandemic would cause big declines in costs for materials and labor in the construction industry.

June 30, 2020 - The Dallas Morning News

Social Distancing

COVID's New Demographic

Younger people are making up more of the new cases of COVID-19 as the coronavirus explodes in the Sunbelt states, particularly Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas, bringing with it new attention on bars as settings for high viral transmission.

June 29, 2020 - The New York Times

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.