All articles tagged with #urban planning
America’s housing crisis stems from a century-old suburban model built on single-family zoning; over the next 50 years, reforms like YIMBY policies, ADUs, and smarter urban planning could turn suburbs into denser, walkable, mixed-use places—and even launch new cities—though outcomes depend on immigration, financing, and political will.
World Cup visitors to Atlanta largely praised MARTA for being user-friendly with clear labeling and reliable trains (five-minute headways were noted), while staff presence helped manage large crowds; Five Points renovations created some navigation challenges but staff and volunteers helped. Visitors used micromobility like scooters and bikes, and downtown public spaces around Centennial Olympic Park and the FIFA Fan Festival buzzed with energy, with about 250,000 attendees in 10 days. Many praised Atlantans’ hospitality and even the city’s food scene (a Waffle House reference stood out), though a few noted navigation quirks and parking costs as minor drawbacks.
With millions visiting for the World Cup, Gothamist walks newcomers through NYC’s enduring infrastructure quirks—from a 24/7 but sometimes clunky subway and a maze-like Penn Station to ongoing airport work and the aging Brooklyn-Queens Expressway—balancing civic pride with practical tips and a nod to the engineers and workers who keep the city running.
New York’s Penn Station is slated for an $8 billion remodel that would modernize the hub while keeping it at its current site; officials say there will be no fare hikes to cover costs and no plan to condemn surrounding properties, with detailed cost breakdowns and environmental review to come as public input is sought amid transit-advocate concerns about secrecy and disruption during construction.
President Trump unveiled a plan for a pedestrian promenade along the Lincoln Memorial that would take pedestrians over two busy roadways to connect the National Mall with the Potomac River, a project he tied to an early-20th-century vision and part of his broader efforts to reshape Washington’s monumental core; Interior Secretary Doug Burgum backed the idea, framing it as a continuation of renovations around the National Mall, while architects cautioned about his interpretation amid other projects like the Reflecting Pool renovation.
Los Angeles is expanding the use of autonomous delivery robots from Serve Robotics and Coco Robotics to hundreds of neighborhoods, sparking mixed reactions from residents and businesses who find them disruptive on crowded sidewalks but view them as nonpolluting and potentially safer. The expansion raises concerns about pedestrian flow and job losses for drivers, while researchers propose a 'robotability score' to guide placement and minimize conflicts as cities balance innovation with sidewalk accessibility.
Satellite data show Mexico City is subsiding at about 9–10 inches per year due to soft lake-bed soils and heavy groundwater pumping, a rapid rise in infrastructure risk that can be observed from space.
Anne Hidalgo’s 12-year tenure reimagined Paris as a walkable, bike-friendly city by removing parking, pedestrianizing streets, and expanding cycle lanes, earning international praise forCleaner air and safer streets while drawing local criticism over traffic jams and a strained bus network, signaling a controversial but lasting shift in the city’s urban planning.
A Next City feature uses Oakland's Ice Center—built in the 1990s with tax-increment financing from California’s now-defunct Redevelopment Agencies—to illustrate how RDAs catalyzed urban investment and how their 2012 dissolution left a gap in long-term public stewardship, prompting debates about equitable funding models and newer approaches like Seattle’s preservation authorities and a social-housing development authority to fill that void without repeating past missteps.
Toronto’s PATH is a 30-kilometer climate-controlled network of tunnels that connects offices, shops and transit, letting downtown workers and visitors dodge winter; while it’s no longer the Guinness World Records holder after Montreal’s RÉSO, the underground system is expanding as a “third space” with new businesses, and locals like Jadiel Teófilo are mapping it to help people navigate the maze.
Heavy rainfall from Cyclone Harry triggers a massive landslide in Niscemi, Sicily, creating a 4km abyss and forcing evacuation of more than 1,600 residents as homes, historic sites, and a public library hang over the unstable ground; authorities probe negligence amid decades of risky urban planning and fragile environmental policies tied to climate change.
At Sundance, The History of Concrete, John Wilson's feature-length follow-up to How To with John Wilson, wittily roams from Hallmark movie seminars to New York's cracked streets as it uses concrete to explore permanence, urban life, and mortality; a meandering, funny yet emotionally resonant documentary that combines whimsy with sharp observations about architecture and time.
Kinshasa’s historic Zando Market reopens in February after a five-year makeover, combining traditional market life with modern sustainable design: a 92,000 sq m complex with 10,000 stalls, 630 shops, rainwater harvesting, and improved safety. The PPP-led project, backed by a SofiBanque loan and built by Think Tank Architecture Paysage Urbanisme with SZTC, aims to revive a cultural backbone that previously drew up to a million shoppers a day, while addressing sanitation and crowding—though critics raised corruption concerns about the contract.
Research in Los Angeles shows that park use declines during extreme heat, but behavioral patterns like time of day and day of week have a greater influence on visitation than heat or amenities. High social sensitivity residents are more willing to travel to less sensitive parks, highlighting disparities. The study suggests focusing on increasing tree cover and green spaces in marginalized communities to improve heat relief and equity, emphasizing the importance of urban planning solutions like cool roofs and reflective pavements to combat climate change effects.
The Denver Broncos have submitted a preliminary plan for a new stadium and mixed-use community at Burnham Yard, emphasizing collaboration with the city and community to create a vibrant, accessible neighborhood that honors local history and enhances quality of life.