Anything good happening in your city, planning-wise? I want to hear about some wins! New housing, bike lanes, plans, etc.
Dave Amos - City Beautiful
@citybeautiful.nebula.tv
Assistant professor, City and Regional Planning, Cal Poly SLO Producer of YT channel City Beautiful
Santa Monica, South Pasadena, Palo Alto, San Mateo, and now Atherton! All the places that used to (and still try to) severely limit or prohibit new multifamily homes. No longer! State housing laws get the goods! www.almanacnews.com/atherton/202...
Developer proposes 30-unit Atherton townhome project using new state law
Atherton, a town known for single-family homes on spacious lots, could soon see a 30-unit townhome development. A Cupertino-based developer submitted a preliminary application that takes advantage of ...
almanacnews.com
nebula.tv/videos/cityb... On Nebula: New video all about what the perfect local street would look like, given the practical context of U.S. cities.
City Beautiful — Can I Design the Perfect Neighborhood Street?
We are used to the usual street in front of our houses: wide, parking, driveways, maybe sidewalks. But is there an optimal design? One that improves safety and makes it nicer to live along?
nebula.tv
New video on Nebula all about planning for data centers and state pre-emption of local control: nebula.tv/videos/cityb...
City Beautiful — How Data Centers Avoid Local Planning
Tech companies are building hundreds of massive data centers in communities around the US. Planners have to grapple with the impacts (power, water, noise) those data centers cause. How do they do it? ...
nebula.tv
We can keep doing this. The easy answer is we simply…don’t pick up the equipment. Leave it up. Run a cheap movie once or twice a week. Vendors can sell hot drinks in the winter. Just don’t stop doing the thing and people will come to the thing.
Northwest Urbanist@thenorthwesturbanist.com · 2mo agoDowntown is packed. This might be a historic number of people on the streets.
I wish there was a warning label on new large vehicles that said, “This truck will make it suck to park and make lanes feel uncomfortably narrow. Don’t blame bikes.”
New video up on Nebula! What's the best density for cities (spoiler: it has to do with transportation) nebula.tv/videos/cityb...
City Beautiful — What is the BEST Density for Cities?
Some cities are incredibly dense, filled with towering skyscrapers. Others are spread out, filled with single family homes. Which is better? Is there a best density? Spoiler: it has something to do wi...
nebula.tv
Stepping onto the first Metro train heading to the D Line extension!
Has anyone here lived next to or within 300 meters of a highway? What were your experiences? I'm doing a video on the topic and wanted some anecdotal evidence!
I'm working on a video about highways, and this project "fact sheet" in Miami had me cracking up.
New video up on Nebula! nebula.tv/videos/cityb...
City Beautiful — How Frank Lloyd Wright Predicted Modern Suburbs (Broadacre City)
U.S. architect Frank Lloyd Wright proposed Broadacre City in the 1930s. It was a vision for a decentralized, low-density city that presaged the exurbs, or the most rural of the suburbs. What did Broad...
nebula.tv
Spirit Halloween peaked this year! Love the subway theme.
New video alert! nebula.tv/videos/cityb...
City Beautiful — Why U.S. Cities Don't Build Metro Systems
New York, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia built their metro systems over 100 years ago, and since then there hasn't been a big boom in metro construction. Big cities like Houston, Dallas, and Phoeni...
nebula.tv
“It's not my duty as Mayor to make sure you have a parking spot. For me it's the same as if you bought a cow, or a refrigerator, and then asked me where you're going to put them.” — Mayor of Pontevedra, Spain (re-elected 6 times)
I tried to condense 100 year of housing history to help put our current crisis in perspective. Check it out on Nebula: nebula.tv/videos/cityb...
City Beautiful — How Did We Create the Housing Crisis?
The housing crisis: how did we get into this mess? This video looks at the last 100 years of housing policy to try to understand how.
nebula.tv
“Parking lots don’t employ any people. They simply provide space for cars. We have expensive housing for people and free parking for cars. … We’re killing our own cities. It’s a huge bummer.” RIP Donald Shoup
The War on Cars@thewaroncars.bsky.social · 2y agoIn memory of Donald Shoup, we re-released our 2023 interview with the brilliant, witty and influential scholar. "The High Cost of Free Parking" is a hugely important book and his research has influenced countless planners and advocates around the world. RIP. thewaroncars.org/2025/02/08/r...
I did a little study of residential parking and found that most on-street and off-street spaces are vacant, even in R-2 zones.
Findings Press@findingspress.org · 2y agoAmos, Dave. 2025. “Will Increasing Residential Density Decrease Parking Availability? A Method for Practitioners.” Findings, January. https://doi.org/10.32866/001c.128202
New video up on Nebula! I wondered how the best way to punish bad drivers was, and the truth is that the system is kind of broken -- and definitely skewed toward giving drivers the benefit of the doubt. nebula.tv/videos/cityb...
City Beautiful — How to Punish Bad Drivers?
Road deaths are on the rise, and dash cams are catching drivers do crazy and dangerous things. What is the best way to punish drivers that cause crashes, particularly those that cause serious injury o...
nebula.tv
NEW Starter pack! 🔥 100 Women in Urbanism Cathy Tuttle (@cathytuttle.bsky.social) and I have curated this list of the 100 most interesting women and non-binary people in urbanism on Bluesky right now.
Writing a blog post on California's new statewide daylighting bill, which I *may* have helped inspire. #Posting2Policy Remember folks, it's now illegal to park within 20 feet in advance of a crosswalk!
Reece will be missed!
Reece Martin@rmtransit.bsky.social · 2y agoCreating a YouTube channel is definitely my biggest achievement so far, but all good things have to come to an end. It's been an absolute pleasure getting to know people in public transit, and I'm really excited to see what the future holds. Please check this out: youtu.be/JDxa9F0NSTg?...
My kids invited me to join their Animal Crossing island and now we have a community workshop scheduled for later to discuss a new neighborhood district for future islanders. They're each designing maps before reaching consensus. This is the closest I've come to getting them excited about planning.
Just posted a quick bonus video on the 8th anniversary of the channel! It's all about Seattle's Overlook Walk and pedestrian infrastructure-as-landmark. Here's the Nebula link: nebula.tv/videos/cityb...
City Beautiful — Did Seattle Build the Best Pedestrian Bridge Ever?
Seattle's new Overlook Walk is an impressive connection between Pike Place Market and its revitalized waterfront. Is this pedestrian bridge worth the $70 million price tag?
nebula.tv
If you live in a small/midsized city, you can often change the discourse on housing/land use by starting a locally-focused blog on these issues. I've seen it happen. With the death of local media, there's often no one covering e.g. zoning hearings. If that's you, you set the terms of the debate.
Highlight from the California State Rail Plan (dot.ca.gov/programs/rai...). All of the possible electrified corridors by 2050. CalTrain in the Bay is a great example of why this needs to happen everywhere.
New video up on Nebula: all about the National Survey that divided most of the US into mile grids. nebula.tv/videos/cityb...
City Beautiful — Why U.S. Streets Are Spaced One Mile Apart
In the 1780s, the United States began to survey its land. This survey process resulted in townships six miles to a side, and roads every single mile. This video explores how that shaped our land and o...
nebula.tv