Land Use
Talking Headways Podcast: Optimism on Infrastructure
This week we’re joined by Linda Samuels, associate professor of urban design at Washington University in St. Louis, to talk about her book "Infrastructural Optimism." We chat about how growth for growth’s sake is not the answer, learn from postmodernist urbanism, and why systems should be more connected.
December 2, 2021
‘An Epic Mistake’: Donald Shoup Reflects on America’s Parking Failure
"There are so many ways in which we’d be better off if we reformed our parking policy: reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, nitrous oxide emissions, particulate pollution, traffic crashes. Urban planners have made epic mistakes in almost all of their parking policies. But now they can fix it."
November 19, 2021
Study: Rural Areas Need Safe, Sustainable Transportation Now
Rural communities need policies that make it easier for residents to drive less, a new report argues — but federal politicians keep perpetuating the myth that transit, walking and biking have no place outside mega-cities.
October 6, 2021
The Real Reason Red America Loves Cars
Republican-leaning voters may be more likely than Democrats to trade a walkable community for a large home, a new poll finds — but that result may say more about car culture's stranglehold on the American imagination than how either group really wants to live.
September 3, 2021
Study: Suburban Living the Worst for Carbon Emissions
Does a city dweller who eats at trendy restaurants every night generate more carbon emissions than a suburbanite with a backyard garden? The answer might surprise you.
July 12, 2021
Talking Headways Podcast: A Compass for Sustainability
This week, we’re joined by Mark Perepelitza, director of sustainability at SERA Architects, who chats about the meaning of sustainability, the company’s sustainability action plan, and its colorful Project Compass.
June 24, 2021
SPUR Talk: The Racist Roots of Single-Family Zoning

February 4, 2021
Op-Ed: It’s Time to Put Daycare Close to Every Home
A land-use ordinance passed by Seattle City Council marks a first step in increasing access to childcare across the city.
August 25, 2020
How Cars Waste Space — In Six Simple Images
Let's hope 2020 is the year when graphics like these finally fall out of date.
January 13, 2020
Portland Makes Way For Bike Parking
Lawmakers in the Rose City have mandated that big developers provide space for residents to store their bicycles.
December 6, 2019