Each Friday, the Wagner Planner editorial board will publish a news roundup of recent planning news. Topics range the gamut of urban planning concentrations, but will mostly be at the discretion of the editor.

 

The Strange, Troubled History of Pedestrian Malls

“When it comes to most big urban planning decisions, it can be difficult to pin down why some succeed and others fail. That’s not true in the case of pedestrian malls. They have been studied in minute detail, and we have a pretty good idea about when they work and when they (much more frequently) don’t work.” (Governing)

 

Why Cities are Critical to Achieving a Carbon-Neutral World

“In the years ahead the role played by cities will be under greater scrutiny than ever before. Cities are, after all, the beating heart of business, commerce, trade and society. They cover 3% of the earth’s land surface yet they are responsible for more than 70% of all carbon emissions. Cities are where the need for integrated energy solutions, backed up by ambitious policy and urban planning, will be critical if the world is to move towards net-zero emissions in the years ahead.” (Big Think)

 

Hackers Tied to Russia’s GRU Targeted the US Grid for Years, Researchers Warn

“While none among the ever-growing list of hacker groups targeting industrial control systems around the world appears to have used those control systems to trigger actual disruptive effects in 2020, Dragos warns that the sheer number of those groups represents a disturbing trend. Caltagirone points to a rare but relatively crude intrusion targeting a small water treatment plant in Oldsmar, Florida earlier this month, in which a still-unidentified hacker attempted to vastly increase the levels of caustic lye in the 15,000-person city’s water. Given the lack of protections on those sorts of small infrastructure targets, a group like Kamacite, Caltagirone argues, could easily trigger widespread, harmful effects even without the industrial-control system expertise of a partner group like Electrum.” (Wired)