Planning Pool

As you or may not have noticed, Planning Pool has been streamlined over the past week to improve site performance and to place greater focus on some of the features that readers enjoy most.  Additionally, we’re redoubling efforts to highlight some of the cool things about the site that fly under the radar.  One such feature is our multimedia library, where we post our own photos and video, as well as interesting things from other sites.  In order to make this content a little more accessible, Planning Pool will showcase a new video every Tuesday.

So, without further ado…

Envision Lancaster County- 2009 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement from Abby Hall on … Continue Reading

Wired Magazine just had an article about the relatively new light rail line in Charlotte, NC. The single-line, 9 mile-long track runs along a light industrial corridor from fast-growing suburban areas to Uptown (that’s just what we call downtown in Charlotte). Despite how small Charlotte’s light rail system is with only 15 stops, Lynx experienced an 800 percent increase in ridership last year.

To explain the significance of Charlotte transit’s success, Charlotte public transit saw the biggest ridership increase in the country, climbing 46 percent between 2006 and 2008. Charlotte is sprawl central. The Charlotte region is classified as an EPA … Continue Reading

CEOs for Cities just released a study showing that homes located close to shops, schools, churches, offices, libraries, parks, and restaurants are worth more than similar homes in less-walkable neighborhoods.

The report, “Walking the Walk: How Walkability Raises Housing Values in U.S. Cities” by Joseph Cortright, analyzed data from 94,000 real estate transactions in 15 major markets. Cortright found that in 13 of the 15 markets, higher levels of walkability, as measured by Walk Score, correlated to higher home values.