Features

ACD convened in Los Angeles from June 5-7 for its annual conference, Telling Stories, held in conjunction with the ACSA's Affordable Housing Design Forum. Major sponsors of the events include Citibank, Woodbury University, Enterprise Community Partners Los Angeles, and the Fannie Mae Foundation.

An ongoing Planetizen series profiles professionals in planning, design, development and related fields. Learn what influenced people to enter the field, what work they have been doing, and what advice they have to offer others interested in planning and development.

An ongoing Planetizen series profiles professionals in planning, design, development and related fields. Learn what influenced people to enter the field, what work they have been doing, and what advice they have to offer others interested in planning and development.

An ongoing Planetizen series profiles professionals in planning, design, development and related fields. Learn what influenced people to enter the field, what work they have been doing, and what advice they have to offer others interested in planning and development.

The story of Reston Town Center, the first suburban downtown in America, is a remarkable history lesson for modern day planners. A longtime resident comments on Reston's story, which is chronicled in a new book, and offers some suggestions for the community's future.

Can cities get back in touch with nature? Planners, developers, architects, and policy makers convened in Los Angeles June 7 to face the challenge and develop a plan of action to help bring life onto the rooftops of L.A.'s downtown.

Every four years, over one billion people take pause for one month to view the most popular sporting event on Earth. The 2006 World Cup of Football (Soccer for us Yanks), showcases the 32 best teams from across the globe, assembled to see which one will lift the storied FIFA World Cup Trophy. No matter what happens, though, host country Germany and its strengthened infrastructure may be the real winner, writes Michael Jelks.

Does your city have a Plan B? Without a plan for an oil-free existence, cities around the world may face drastic changes, according to a recent symposium in Winnipeg, Manitoba about the approaching energy shortage. Jessica Roder offers her perspective on the symposium's guidance for addressing the inevitable challenges of reduced supplies, and a new hope for peak oil planning.

From June 1st through 4th, a cadre of 1,500 students, professionals, intellectuals, and activists descended upon Providence, Rhode Island, for the Congress for the New Urbanism's (CNU) fourteenth annual conference, "Developing the New Urbanism: Implementation", covered by Planetizen Correspondent Mike Lydon.

Want to get cleaner businesses that pay high wages and attract better retail? Think greenways and culture before tax breaks and roads. Good quality-of-life planning is good economic development planning, writes Leo Vazquez, AICP/PP, in this commentary on BIO 2006.

How deeply does the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA -- one of the oldest statewide environmental laws -- impact urban planning in California? Does it effectively balance the interests of the state's citizens, the building industry, and environmentalists? How do planners use the law, and what kind of growth does it promote in the state? In this exclusive Planetizen Roundtable Discussion, CEQA experts discuss the powerful law's wide-ranging impact on planning issues, and evaluate opportunities for reform.

Planetizen Correspondent Erik Kancler interviews Bob Stacey, Executive Director of 1,000 Friends of Oregon, on the need to restore progressive land use planning practices in the state. Since the passage of Measure 37, says Stacey, land use practices in Oregon have entered a state of chaos.

Legendary urbanist, thinker, writer, and activist Jane Jacobs died Tuesday, April 25, 2006. Jacobs, never formally educated or professionally trained in urban planning, came to be the field's most famous critic and commentator, through her writings and grassroots activism. She inspired countless individuals, re-establishing the importance of citizen participation in community design. This special section presents the top news articles about Jane Jacobs from our archives, as well as capsule reviews of two of Jacobs' books included on Planetizen Top Book lists: The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961, Planetizen Top 20 All-Time Urban Planning Book) and Dark Age Ahead (2004, Planetizen Top 10 Book for 2004).

Through a partnership with the UCLA School of Law, Planetizen Correspondent Lainie Herrera covered this engaging, interdisciplinary symposium featuring keynote speaker Bruce Babbitt, former Secretary of the Interior and Planetizen Top 10 Book award winner.

Design Week 2006, Mississippi State University -- Frank Barbour, landscape architecture student at Mississippi State University, reports on MSU's Design Week 2006, which grouped 150 students from a variety of disciplines -- including architects, engineers, business students, and ecologists -- in an intense charrette to devise creative solutions to post-Katrina problems on Mississippi's Gulf Coast.

Over six months have passed since the tragic events brought on by Hurricane Katrina, and planning and development issues remain at the forefront of the national debate. This special section presents the most-read news articles about Katrina from our news archives. Also included are nine thought-provoking Planetizen Op-Eds and Features, in addition to links to our Hurricane Katrina forum and Top Issues for 2005 list, which includes the disaster. Together, these writings address the major issues that have emerged in the last half-year and analyze the impact of Katrina on planning.

From eminent domain to "condofication", Planetizen editors outline the top 10 planning issues from 2005.

Spatial information professionals gather at the 43rd Annual Conference of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association being held in Kansas City, MO.

In just three years under the leadership of Enrique Penalosa, former mayor of Bogota, Colombia, the city built the Trans-Milenio, a bus rapid transit system, rehabbed 1,200 parks, laid 300 kilometers of bikeways, created the world's longest pedestrian street, brought water to all of Bogota's slums, and built new schools, libraries and daycare facilities, all while reducing the murder rate by two-thirds and institutionalizing an annual, citywide car-free day.

Can a campus community become a "green" model for society as a whole? Educators, students, and professionals meet at an interdisciplinary conference to promote sustainability in education, research, operations and affiliated service organizations.