World

Global issues, U.N., etc.

Climate Change

Climate Concerns Largely Absent in Auto Showrooms

A consumer survey found that less than a third of respondents considered carbon emissions or the environment when they last purchased a motor vehicle, yet three-quarters of Americans consider climate change a major problem or crisis.

February 7, 2020 - Streetsblog USA

New York Bike Delivery

Report: Last-Mile Deliveries to Increase 78% by 2030

A new report from the World Economic Forum predicts dire consequences for congestion and carbon emissions if e-commerce delivery services proliferate unchecked.

January 29, 2020 - Supply Chain DIve

Charles County, Maryland

The World's Streets Are Becoming Less Connected, Study Shows

The world is sprawling as it develops, according to ambitious new research.

January 27, 2020 - PhysOrg

Bike Share Electric Scooters

Toward a Vocabulary of Micromobility

All these newfangled devices and no universal nomenclature.

January 23, 2020 - The City Fix

jersey-city-parking-lot-3

The Latest Trend in Redevelopment: Parking Lot to Multi-Family Residential

Real estate and investment experts see more and more urban parking lots as attractive locations for redevelopment—usually for multi-family residential buildings.

January 23, 2020 - The Investor

Brookline, Massachusetts

Positive Thinking for the Environment

There have been wins. And there will be opportunities. All is not lost for the future of the planet.

January 19, 2020 - Outside

United Kingdom

'Guardian Cities' Calls it Quits

Guardian Cities is closing shop after six years as a valued resource on the planning and urbanism Internet.

January 13, 2020 - Guardian Cities

Vienna, Austria

The City as a Self-Organizing, Adaptive System – Part 2

The adaptive nature of cities is exemplified once again, by the self-organizing response of street networks after transformative changes.

January 12, 2020 - Fanis Grammenos

Traffic

Opinion: Car Culture Will Shift in the Next Decade

Cars and vehicle emissions are undoubtedly central to the climate change problem. The solution, however, might not be cleaner vehicles but rather a drastic change in our relationship to automobiles and driving.

January 6, 2020 - The Guardian

Renewable Energy

Global Cost of Transitioning to 100 Percent Renewable Energy: $73 Trillion

A report by researchers from Stanford University says the cost of transitioning the world to entirely renewable energy production would pay for itself in seven years and add a net positive amount of jobs measured in the millions.

January 3, 2020 - Yale Environment 360

Public Comment

What the Academic Literature Says About Civic Engagement

A literature review notes three big themes and challenges to emerge from a year's worth of intellectual investigation of civic engagement.

January 2, 2020 - Data-Smart City Solutions

2010s

New Decade Eye Candy: The Decade in Photographs

National Geographic shared a list of 15 of its best images captured during the 2010s.

January 1, 2020 - National Geographic

Jeff Bezos and Donald Trump

Watch: Urban Planning in the 2010s

A first draft of the urban planning history of the 2010s.

December 31, 2019 - Planetizen via YouTube

Transit Insights

Top Urban Planning Websites – 2019

Planetizen's annual list of the best of the planning Internet gives a taste of the technological and editorial milieu of the urban planning Internet at the beginning of a new decade.

December 31, 2019 - James Brasuell

A ferry boat returns to Seattle

Washington State to Transition to Battery Electric Ferries

Washington's largest diesel emissions polluter will transition its fleet to diesel-hybrids and then to battery-electric propulsion to comply with Gov. Inslee's emissions-reduction executive order which will also please the orcas in Puget Sound.

December 29, 2019 - Greentech Media

Vote

The Most Popular Urban Planning Articles of 2019

The most-read news, features, and blogs on Planetizen in 2019.

December 27, 2019 - James Brasuell

Panama City Rainforest Fog

Land Use Patterns Connected to Biodiversity Crisis

As many as 1 million species are at risk of extinction if the world, including planning professionals and politicians, doesn't make big changes.

December 24, 2019 - Vox

Green Hydrogen, Plus Storage, Key to Los Angeles' Plan for Carbon-Free Electricity

The Los Angeles municipal utility will convert a Utah coal power plant to run on natural gas in 2025. According to a proposal unveiled Dec. 10, the plant will incrementally be converted to run entirely on hydrogen, a zero-emission fuel, by 2045.

December 22, 2019 - Utility Dive

Alternative Transportation

Electric Bicycle Sales Will Outpace Electric Vehicle Sales Until 2023, Report Predicts

The world, including the United States, could be entering a new era of personal mobility.

December 21, 2019 - The Verge

Car Graveyard

3 Ways to Overcome a Century of Car-Centric Planning

The consequences of car-centric planning are clear, a century after cars took over streets and lives across this country. According to this article, so to is a new way forward.

December 21, 2019 - Citymetric

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.