Blogs

A Successful Experiment in Informal Transportation

November 14, 2024

Informal Transportation Testing

Uncovering JAPA: A pilot project in Kampala, Uganda, reveals how targeted subsidies can create profitable and equitable informal transport routes, enhancing mobility for underserved communities.

September 12, 2024

Reimagine Tolling With HOTTER Lanes

Uncovering JAPA: Discover how transforming metropolitan freeways into sustainable, multimodal systems can offer congestion-free travel for non-drivers and underserved populations by integrating toll revenue and incentives to reduce traffic and promote alternative transportation.

August 1, 2024

Deregulating Parking

Uncovering JAPA: Learn how Champaign, Illinois, has combated onsite parking constraints by removing minimum parking requirements and improving the utilization of existing parking.

July 11, 2024

How Can Carshare Help Low-Income Travelers?

Uncovering JAPA: Carshare programs can benefit low-income travelers but there remain some challenges that need to be addressed.

Animators Unlock Active School Travel (blog featured image)

June 13, 2024

Integrating Community Animators into Planning

Uncovering JAPA: Learn how community animators can help municipal governments effectively engage marginalized communities in planning processes by bridging gaps between community members and urban planners.

May 9, 2024

Can Transit-Oriented Developments Include Affordable Development?

Uncovering JAPA: Explore hurdles to affordable housing in Southern California's transit-oriented developments, and the importance of legislative and local government support for inclusivity in transit communities.

May 2, 2024

Will We Zone For Transit?

Uncovering JAPA: Explore how transit-oriented development (TOD) emerged as a crucial strategy in curbing urban sprawl with the 2023 Montreal light rail project.

train lines and highway running through urban area near shoreline

May 1, 2024

Building More Resilient Transportation Networks With Big Data

Sponsored content from Geotab ITS. By using contextualized transportation data to improve infrastructure equity, efficiency, and sustainability, we can help states and nations strengthen their resiliency.

March 5, 2024

Overcoming Misinformation to Implement a Road Diet

Amidst a yearslong project to make a roadway safer in Bellingham, Washington, planners had to contend not just with the challenge of reducing lane widths but also with misinformation being spread about the project.

January 10, 2024

Creating Vibrant, Safe Streets

Equity in Practice: The City of Minneapolis elevated native culture and rebuilt trust by partnering with the Little Earth Residents Association and the Native Youth Arts Collective to improve the safety of 18th Avenue South.

December 7, 2023

Motorbike Contributions: Enhancing Street Life and the Local Economy

Uncovering JAPA: Slow-moving motorbikes allow for "productive frictions" enhancing interactions between people and the streetscape.

December 6, 2023

The Continuing Evolution of Complete Streets

December 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the first official use of the term "Complete Streets," learn about key trends and influencing factors that will continue to shape the Complete Streets of the future.

September 26, 2023

Renaming Streets to Promote Reconciliation

Equity in Practice: Learn how Charlotte, North Carolina, approached and ultimately renamed streets that had honored Confederate and white supremist leaders.

August 31, 2023

Transportation Demand Management is a Movement for Improvement

Sponsored content from Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission. From vehicles to bicycles, traffic flow to bus routes, one common benefit across most Transportation Demand Management (TDM) efforts is reduced emissions and cleaner air. View Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission’s (SPC) Strategic Action Plan for regional TDM

June 29, 2023

Discretionary vs. By-Right Approval: Which is Faster?

Uncovering JAPA: Is by-right or discretionary approval faster?

June 22, 2023

Transit Oriented Development and Crime in Chicago

Uncovering JAPA: Is there a connection between transit oriented development (TOD) in Chicago's public transit system.

May 12, 2023

Opening the Policy Window for Bike Lanes in Sydney

Uncovering JAPA: Learning to leverage policy windows by committing to evidence-based solutions and political coalition-building.

March 10, 2023

What's in a (Street) Name?

Spotlight on Zoning Practice: How do street naming and addressing regulations affect planning goals?

February 2, 2023

Expanding the Benefits of Ride-Hail to Lower-Income Households

Uncovering JAPA: Ride-hails are filling mobility gaps, but does the cost hinder use?

January 26, 2023

Understanding the Diverse Perceptions of Covid-era Street Schemes

Uncovering JAPA: How enduring is the support for outdoor dining and street closures post-COVID?

December 22, 2022

Removing Freeways and Healing Communities

Equity in Practice: The economic and community outcomes of removing Milwaukee's Park East Freeway.

November 10, 2022

It’s Time to Rethink Disparity Analyses in Transportation

Uncovering JAPA: The comparison between sufficiency and disparity analysis helps demonstrate how disparity analyses may do more harm than good if planners do not contextualize their findings.

October 20, 2022

The Transgressive Urban Forest

Uncovering JAPA: Exploring a more radical conception of urban forestry.

October 13, 2022

Is Your Zoning Ready for the EV Surge?

Spotlight on Zoning Practice: Your zoning code could probably be doing more to facilitate the transition to electric vehicles.

October 4, 2022

Implementing Transit Value Capture Schemes More Equitably

Uncovering JAPA: What can transit value capture teach us about the intersection of entrenched segregation and transportation planning?

August 8, 2022

From Data Point A to Zero Crashes, and All the Complexities in Between

Sponsored content from INRIX X GM. Vision Zero is right around the corner. The data exists, the processes and tools are in place, and now it’s up to us to drive it all forward.

July 7, 2022

Using Forecasting Models to Predict Foot Traffic

Uncovering JAPA: A new forecast model and methodology help planners to estimate foot traffic along streets.

June 23, 2022

Ensuring "Open Streets" Plans Advance Social Equity

Uncovering JAPA: Pandemic-created open streets can be a lifeline, but also exacerbate inequities without careful implementation.

May 19, 2022

Learning from London’s Transition to Sustainable Modes

Uncovering JAPA: Learning from London's transition to sustainable transportation modes.

April 28, 2022

The Built Environment, Bicycling, and Mental Wellbeing

Uncovering JAPA: Exploring the impact of the built environment and mental wellbeing of bicycling as a form of transportation.

March 24, 2022

Do Light Rail Stations Spur Gentrification?

Uncovering JAPA: Researchers explore the gentrification impacts of light rail stations.

March 17, 2022

Political Partisanship and Transportation Reform

Uncovering JAPA: What role does partisanship play in transportation reform?

March 15, 2022

From Mobility Hubs to Mobility-Oriented Development

Spotlight on Zoning Practice: What are mobility hubs? And how can planners use zoning and other land-use and development regulations to support mobility-oriented development?

March 10, 2022

Connecting Destinations through Pedestrian-Oriented Design

This blog post provides an overview of pedestrian-oriented design as a planning approach to increase physical activity in small and rural communities through everyday destinations. It is part of the Everyday Destinations series.

February 10, 2022

The Cost of Avoiding Public Transit During COVID-19

Uncovering JAPA: Understanding the burden on individuals who avoided public transportation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

January 20, 2022

Driving Change Through Parking

Uncovering JAPA: A look if removing minimum parking requirements shift development trends in cities and reduce car-dependence in the long run?

January 13, 2022

Location Impacts on When Older Adults Stop Driving

Uncovering JAPA: This study looks at if location determines how and when older adults may stop driving.

November 18, 2021

Assessing Who, Where, and Why Individuals Walk

Uncovering JAPA: The 'Planners' Circles' or walksheds need to be customized to take into account trip purpose and who is walking.

September 9, 2021

Measuring the Causal Impact of Plans on Development

Uncovering JAPA: The impact of plans on development. A case study of Seattle and San Francisco.

August 16, 2021

Basing Transportation Policies on Accessibility

Uncovering JAPA: Understanding how to assess if a planning initiative improves accessibility.

August 4, 2021

Pro-Planning Infrastructure Bill Poised to Clear Senate Hurdle

Planners' infrastructure priorities will hit an important milestone later this week (August 4, 2021) when the Senate passes the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

May 6, 2021

Ridership Forecasts Should Do More Than Go With the Flow

Uncovering JAPA: Ridership forecasts predict the future, but this post explains their past.

April 29, 2021

New Towns and the Struggle for Work-Life Balance

Uncovering JAPA: In Hong Kong, building new towns requires strategic spatial planning to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

April 19, 2021

Shaping the Future of Municipalities Through Investment in Shared Spaces

Massachusetts' Shared Streets and Spaces grant program offers a look at improving quality of life by investing in public spaces.

April 2, 2021

Administration’s Bold Infrastructure Plan Holds Promise For Planners, But Questions Remain

Planners and communities are eager to see transformational infrastructure policy move forward in Washington. While President Biden's infrastructure plan offers much promise, there are also important questions that remain unanswered about support for planning-led solutions in any infrastructure package.

March 11, 2021

Car Ownership Levels in America Follow Trends of Urban Street Griddedness

Uncovering JAPA: The grid system of American city streets has tangible implications for equity in mobility, public health, and environmental sustainability.

January 7, 2021

A Framework to Strengthen Transportation Planning

Uncovering JAPA: Tackle uncertainty using a robust decision-making framework for transportation planning.

November 12, 2020

Big, Open Data Offers New Tools for Transit-Oriented Development

Uncovering JAPA: How can planners use big, open data to look at transit-oriented development?

October 29, 2020

A Driver's License Can Equal Carpooling, Safety, and Social Justice

Uncovering JAPA: How can planners make driving safer and make stronger arguments for carpooling? What if planners could also become advocates for immigrants at the same time?