Streetsblog Network

Everyone's paying tribute to Jane Jacobs today, on what would be the pioneering urbanist's 100th birthday. Jacobs' classic critique of mid-century American urban planning dogma, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, is probably the most influential book ever written about planning. But her legacy is also contested, and her ideas still go unheeded in most cities. Was she too averse to change? And how do her theories of city-building work in practice?

Right now, the Seattle region is hashing out how to spend $50 billion to expand transit. The project list, known as ST3, is tilted heavily toward the suburbs, not the urban core where ridership would be higher.

They say "what you measure is what you get," and for the first time, the North Central Texas Council of Governments is measuring walking and biking activity in the Dallas region, reports Brandon Formby at the Dallas Morning News' Transportation Blog.

Every once in a while you have to step back and gape at the sheer scale of the highway interchanges America has built smack in the middle of our cities.

This video from the Minneapolis-based satirical site Wedge LIVE sends up the not-in-my-backyard resistance to infill development that could help alleviate the shortage of affordable housing affecting a growing number of American cities.

Every so often someone (usually Joel Kotkin) tries to make the case that the rapid growth of Houston, as opposed to say, Chicago, is evidence that Americans love sprawl.

Governors of the states surrounding the Great Lakes are considering a water policy case with big implications for land development throughout the Midwest.

Will the Obama administration prod state DOTs to abandon the destructive practice of widening roads and highways, or will it further entrench policies that have hollowed out cities and towns, increased traffic and car dependence, and made America a world leader in carbon pollution?

Here's an idea whose time has come: Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has proposed a tax on soda and other sugary drinks that contribute to obesity and poor health, and using the money to pay for public improvements, including bike trails.