Hello urban-planning nerds of Reddit! Here in Boston, our local transit agency -- The MBTA -- is transforming its bus network through a major redesign, which will bring a myriad of optimizations and enhancements aimed at improving service frequency and quality. In the attached article, I wanted to highlight some of the routing strategies and operational practices that will deliver these improvements, and explain why the redesign represents a valuable model that cities can follow to improve bus service, and spend transit dollars more effectively. While it doesn’t have the same elegance as the shiney rail line, I would argue the redesign exemplifies a more practical, cost-effective, and realistic project, which will bring immense benefits to riders without requiring tremendous capital investments. In essence, this article advocates for partially shifting the scope of transit advocacy away from costly, (sometimes) overly ambitious projects, and towards more cost-effective initiatives like the bus network redesign, which tend to more easily generate political support, and buy cities more bang for their buck. I know this message will spark some controversy, but I’m asking you to hear me out. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

https://medium.com/@cowsayspow62/how-the-mbta-is-overhauling-its-bus-network-and-what-other-cities-can-learn-from-it-ff161c864387

https://preview.redd.it/rt0snrtnv5ge1.png?width=1999&format=png&auto=webp&s=e363b58630cf9e601731b7308e32272e0f510fe0

Where Santee ave/yankton and 2nd ave intersects perpendicular to a block instead of connecting straight to a street. Lets say you are on the yankton ave trying to get to W B St you would have to turn right and immediatly turn left. I would also like to add that 2nd ave W is a main street and everyone parks diagonally from each corner creating a blindspot. People also park diagonally on W B St, nobody parellel parks but that is a rant for another day. I don't know much about street design but I would like some reassurance that I am not crazy when I say this isn't good

I'm working on a personal Urban Design Project and I'm trying to figure out what type of transportation would be best for what I've gotten planned out so far.

For reference what I currently have is 50ft wide road. With Two 7ft Tree areas, Two 6ft Sidewalks, Two 5ft Bike Paths, Two 2ft Street Light areas.

I was planning to put a 12ft wide tram section in the middle of the road but I realize that it would take up a LOT of the available space. So I started to consider alternatives.

Metro would completely move everything underground and would be best in terms of street space, but I guess part of me wanted to keep at least some visibility.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions with the pros and cons for each I'd greatly appreciated it!

Extra points if you can edit/fix actual streets from satellite imagery or something?

Thanks

Hello all!

I am currently thinking of switching my career and would like to know if I can use my degree for any entry level jobs. The degree is "Computer Animation" / 3D graphics. I'd also like to know what certifications or online programs I can start looking into to gain more skills. Currently college is out of the question since I already am paying back student loan debt.

Hello everyone,

I was thinking of starting a side open-source project related to urban planning.

I was considering working on a tool that could help urban planners or municipalities in their work. This could be either:

1. A free and open-source alternative to existing software that you find problematic or too expensive, or
2. A completely new tool to address a gap that currently exists in your field.

This project being open source it would also be free. What do you think? I haven’t had the chance to get involved in any urban planning projects yet, so I’m not very familiar with the process. That’s why I’m reaching out to you—to get your insights and ideas.

Thanks in advance!

For example, this video. I work with civil engineers, city officials, etc, and if there is a relatively user-friendly way to make scaled images like this over existing satellite imagery, I think it would go a long way towards understanding intersection redesigns and explaining why.

Either animation or just a single drawing. Thanks!

Hi everyone,
The main road (Quito Road) has a steady stream of traffic in both directions. At the intersection of Quito Road and Baylor Ave, there’s an issue with vehicles having a blind spot when entering Quito Road. Especially from the left side where the stop sign is pushed back for the bus stop.

Additionally, at Cox, vehicles often have to wait for oncoming traffic to turn, as well as for traffic in both directions on Quito. With Quito being such a steady stream of traffic, this creates frequent backups and delays.

Are there any design solutions or improvements that could help solve this urban nightmare?

you can find this location on google maps as well here:
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.2802699,-121.9946739,198m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDEyMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

If anyone is interested in answering any of these questions for me I would be grateful.

I have a learning disability that makes me sometimes mix up the order of numbers and struggle with math. Does this have the potential to be a problem for an urban planner?

What's your daily life like with this career? Are your financial needs being met? What do you dislike about your job? Any regrets? I find that I do best in a job that gives me a mix of alone time and time working with/around people - how is the balance in this field? How do you spend your time? What's your schedule like? How is your work/life balance in general? What kind of person is successful in this career?

I know there is a gazzilion of posts about "does adding lanes make the traffic worse" but I would like to make yet another one with a more specific question.

I would like to see/do a simulation of traffic in the same city with different parameters of lanes and parking lots increase/decrease and see how the changes impact the traffic.

I would like to have a separate parameter for "induced demand" to see what is the threshold after which the travel time reaches the previous value or increases.

Is there any such simulation available or what is the recommended approach to build one?

Hello All,

I live in the Southwest United States. I received my bachelors in environmental planning and design with a concentration in community and regional planning. I am looking to pursue a master's degree in Urban Design/Planning, Landscape Architecture, or ideally a combination of both of these. I specifically hope to study in Spain because I want to learn Spanish, their cities are built beautifully (Barcelona, Valencia, omg...), and Valencia was recently labeled the greenest city in Europe (perfect for a landscape focus?!!). From my experience in the United States, most jobs I've worked are highly fixated on zoning and land use (which makes sense given the way our country goes about planning). However, I want to be more creative, work on actual plans that are implemented in development projects, learn how to build cities around public and multi-modal forms of transportation, and do this in a way which incorporates both the natural and built environments.

I have a years worth of experience working for a non-profit affordable housing developer - helping with real estate due diligence, real estate acquisition, creating primary development plans (illustrator, indesign, GIS), coordination amongst the developer consultants, and some creative design work (photoshop, illustrator, etc.). Then, I switched gears and worked for a year in wilderness conservation - helping delegate land into protected wilderness areas, conducting volunteer stewardship events, and carrying out physical manual labor on our national forest trails. Now, I work for a city jurisdiction, helping with research and program development. Although I am happy to be contributing to positive change in my community, this current position is much less design oriented than I expected it to be. I'm realizing too, that my design skills are generally not where I would like them to be. I'm taking one landscape class, starting tomorrow actually, to kickstart the strengthening of my design skills while still working full-time.

In the meantime, I hope to start gathering my application materials, pre-enroll, get into the homologation process, etc., so I am ready to start a program this fall. I really don't have a true portfolio so, I am starting this now. Spanish grad programs usually start in September so, I have a few months before I feel the need to stress about the time.

The difficulty I'm having is simply finding a school which teaches a program fully in English. Although I have been learning Spanish and am currently enrolled in a Spanish class, I am nowhere near a B2-level of proficiency, required for most programs. I plan on learning Spanish by living in Spain... ideally learning this outside of school so I can truly focus on my degree. Does anyone have advice or know of Spanish schools which provide Urban Planning or Landscape programs entirely in English?