Planting Trees Where They are Most Needed Clement Lau Tue, 05/07/2024 - 12:00 Primary Image Made up of trees on public and private lands, the community or urban forest is essential to a healthy, thriving, and resilient community. When spread equitably and supported by other urban greening measures, a well-managed urban forest can deliver a wide range of benefits such as healthier soil, increased biodiversity, new wildlife habitats, shading from heat, and greater community health and well-being. Through funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. Forest Service is making histori ..read more

Seattle Mayor Raises Transportation Levy by $100 Million Diana Ionescu Tue, 05/07/2024 - 11:00 Primary Image Acknowledging calls for more funding for road safety and multimodal transportation, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell added $100 million to his proposed transportation levy aimed at sidewalks, bike lanes, and public transit. As Ryan Packer explains in The Urbanist, “The City is highly reliant on levy funding, as Move Seattle accounts for about 30% of the overall budget at the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT).” The second draft of the levy proposal shifts more spending toward mu ..read more

Expansion of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument Approved Clement Lau Tue, 05/07/2024 - 10:00 Last week, President Biden took action to expand the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, which President Obama designated in 2014. The proclamation adds 105,919 acres of U.S. Forest Service lands to the south and west of the Monument’s 346,177 acres, protects additional cultural, scientific, and historic objects, and expands access to outdoor recreation on public lands. The lands added to the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument contain unique cultural, geological, and ecological ..read more

New Documentary Highlights Regenerative Agriculture and Climate Change Clement Lau Tue, 05/07/2024 - 09:00 Primary Image Are you familiar with the term “regenerative agriculture”? Essentially, it is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to land management and food production and is the focus of the documentary Common Ground. Unlike industrial agriculture, this approach focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting bio-sequestration, increasing resilience to climate change, and ..read more

Detroit Metro Testing ‘Smart Road’ Tech Diana Ionescu Tue, 05/07/2024 - 08:07 Primary Image The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Cavnue, a Washington, D.C.-based technology firm, are launching a “smart road” pilot project designed to make roads safer and traffic flow more efficient. According to an article by Anne Snabes in The Detroit News, “The pilot is the first stage of a larger project, which envisions a technology-enabled express lane along each direction of I-94 between Ann Arbor and Detroit.” Snabes adds that “It's one of several examples of how connected vehicle te ..read more

HUD Issues Fair Housing Guidance for AI Diana Ionescu Tue, 05/07/2024 - 07:00 Primary Image The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is warning that AI-powered software used to select tenants for rental housing and target housing advertisements can “introduce bias and potential discrimination into these activities.”  To address these issues, HUD released two guidance documents outlining how the Fair Housing Act impacts AI applications. As Alexandra Kelley explains in Route Fifty, “The tenant screening guidance released by HUD explains that housing providers cannot di ..read more

Video: Zeroing in on Nighttime Traffic Deaths Diana Ionescu Sun, 05/05/2024 - 11:00 Primary Image In a webinar from 24 Hour Nation, a group of experts including Streetsblog’s Kea Wilson weighs in on the structural causes of nighttime pedestrian deaths, which make up three-quarters of pedestrian deaths in the United States. Wilson highlights some factors, such as dangerous road design and high speed limits, which apply at all times of day, but whose effects are magnified after dark. “Then, Paris's Pedestrian Policy Manager Chiara Molinar reveals how the city of lights is charting a far diff ..read more

Op-Ed: How ‘Useful’ Businesses Boost Walkability Diana Ionescu Sun, 05/05/2024 - 09:00 Primary Image Urbanists make a lot of hay of ‘mixed use,’ writes Erin Caldwell in an op-ed for Next City. Neighborhoods need diverse businesses and services to thrive, urbanists frequently say. But what about the types of businesses? According to Caldwell, “A neighborhood dense with businesses that do not meet the weekly needs of residents is no better than a neighborhood absent businesses with respect to walkability. Walkability depends, at least in part, on having comprehensive retail.” For Caldwell, t ..read more

E-Bikes Contributing to Bike Share Growth Diana Ionescu Sun, 05/05/2024 - 07:00 Primary Image Primary Image Caption Electric bikes at a Divvy bike share station in Chicago, Illinois. The rise of e-bikes is driving the growth of U.S. bike share systems, according to an article by Daniel C. Vock in Route Fifty. E-bikes make cycling more accessible and help riders reach more destinations.“Other modes of transportation—including for scooter shares and traditional bikes—saw declines during the early days of the pandemic, but there has been a ‘steady increase’ in the use of e-bikes ever since ..read more

April’s Must-Reads: Top 10 Articles From Last Month Mary Hammon Sun, 05/05/2024 - 05:00 April brought a diverse array of news from across the planning spectrum. Below we’ve compiled a list of Planetizen’s most popular content published last month. A groundbreaking solar project in Ohio, mall revitalization efforts in Pennsylvania, and bad news for California EV owners came in at the top, along with a Supreme Court Decision that tightens the screws on development fees. Parking and California’s declining population were also popular topics. Happy reading! 1. Coming Soon to Ohio: The Largest Ag ..read more