Buffalo

One promising trend in urban planning is the push from a growing number of U.S. cities to reduce minimum parking requirements for new developments. As the name suggests, parking minimums require developers to build a certain amount of spaces, regardless of whether a community wants or needs them. The result is an excess of parking that can lead to more vehicle pollution, worsen traffic congestion, and drive up housing costs. In some cases, the steep cost of building parking prevents a project from moving forward at all.

A city on the rise considers using its wasted space near transit for housing.

The need for better streets is global, but the fight is local.

The state had pushed a "boulevard" design that was too much like the highway it was supposed to replace.

After Andrew Cuomo's previous economic development strategies became embroiled in a federal corruption probe, big corporate tax breaks are out, and investments in transit and walkability are in.

Parking minimums make cities less walkable and less affordable. While many American cities are scaling them back, Buffalo is the only one to eliminate them citywide.

Ever suspect that the officer who parked a squad car in the bike lane, forcing you to swerve into traffic, isn't really on pressing police business? Stick around and you might get proof.

As a charter member of the Congress for New Urbanism, I’ve now attended twenty of the organization’s annual conferences. This month’s event may have been my favorite yet, mostly thanks to its location in downtown Buffalo, a place that reminds us so poignantly of both the successes and failures of city planning, as first lovingly practiced and later ruthlessly perpetrated across America.

Cynthia Van Ness, a librarian and host of BuffaloResearch.com, put together the above map, showing the nearly 150 sites where drivers crashed into buildings in the Buffalo region and made the news since 2006.