News from

Urban Planning

Reset All Filters
174 Results
20 breakthroughs of 2025
Masoud Akbarzadeh holding up one of the fabricated materials.

The Polyhedral Structures Laboratory is housed at the Pennovation Center and brings together designers, engineers, and computer scientists to reimagine the built world. Using graphic statics, a method where forces are mapped as lines, they design forms that balance compression and tension. These result in structures that use far fewer materials while remaining strong and efficient.

(Image: Eric Sucar)

20 breakthroughs of 2025

From ancient tombs and tiny robots to personalized gene editing and AI weather models, Penn’s 2025 research portfolio showed how curiosity—paired with collaboration—moves knowledge into impact and stretches across disciplines and continents.

5 min. read

Air travel quandary: Gad Allon and Megan Ryerson on challenges and solutions
Travelers in a busy security checkpoint at an airport.

Travelers at a security checkpoint at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago during the government shutdown in November.

(Image: Nam Y. Huh via Getty Images)

  • Q&A

    • Air travel quandary: Gad Allon and Megan Ryerson on challenges and solutions

    The recent government shutdown exposed long-standing issues facing commercial air travel. Leading into Thanksgiving holiday travel, Gad Allon of the Wharton School and Megan Ryerson of the Weitzman School of Design discuss the system’s infrastructure challenges and the need for workforce development.

    4 min. read

    Why aren’t America’s national roadways working?
    Traffic from New Jersey to Philadelphia.

    Professor of city and regional planning Erick Guerra recently published a book exploring the economic and societal impacts of American highways. He explains some of the pitfalls associated with an ever-expansive highway system, arguing that spending more on highways might not be the solution to the country’s transportation issues.

    (Image: Courtesy of Getty / peeterv)

    Why aren’t America’s national roadways working?

    Penn urban planner Erick Guerra’s new book, “Overbuilt,” argues that additional spending on building more highways might not be the solution to the country’s transportation issues. In a Q&A, Guerra shares his insights.

    4 min. read

    Why rental support works
    Vincent Reina and Sara Jaffee.

    “You’re seeing a dramatic improvement in housing stability outcomes,” says Vincent Reina, pictured with Sara Jaffee.

    nocred

    Why rental support works

    Cash assistance drastically reduces tenants’ likelihood of eviction and homelessness, according to an ongoing study of the PHLHousing+ program from Weitzman’s Vincent Reina and Arts & Sciences’ Sara Jaffee.

    From the Weitzman School of Design

    2 min. read

    Students test one way to combat extreme heat in Philadelphia
    Nafisa Bangura (left) and Angelica Dadda (right) doing hands-on experimental work in the Composto Lab.

    Nafisa Bangura (left) and Angelica Dadda (right) examine CoolSeal-treated asphalt bricks in the Composto Lab to better understand how this coating behaves in controlled environments.

    nocred

    Students test one way to combat extreme heat in Philadelphia

    Third-year students Nafisa Bangura and Angelica Dadda expanded upon a multidisciplinary research endeavor to evaluate a reflective pavement coating as a tool to mitigate extreme heat. Their work may inform policy efforts to improve urban heat resilience.

    4 min. read