Amid the backdrop of Mahmoud Abbas' application for Palestinian statehood, Jesse Fox critiques the Israeli premier for his antiquated plan to fast track sprawling suburban developments into Israel's rapidly diminishing open spaces.
Sustainable Cities attacks Benjamin Netanyahu's persistence with free market economics, privatization of public land, and desire for affordable single use, suburban sprawl. Israeli students responded to Netanyahu's privatization based planning reforms in July with mass protests and the construction of a "tent city," in the center of Tel Aviv. There they called for "social justice," and "revolution to end privatization."
Jesse Fox claims that Netanyahu has presided over an increasingly "kleptocratic," government that has slowed social change by keeping the focus on external boogeymen, whose ranks have been reduced by the Arab Spring. He writes that "Bibi's grand vision will drag us backward, accelerating massive, uncontrolled (sub)urbanization while degrading the country's standard of living."
"As for the claim that flooding the market with tens of thousands of units will lower prices, most serious economists and planning experts are not buying it."
FULL STORY: Bibi, Urban Planner In Chief

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Map: Where Senate Republicans Want to Sell Your Public Lands
For public land advocates, the Senate Republicans’ proposal to sell millions of acres of public land in the West is “the biggest fight of their careers.”

Restaurant Patios Were a Pandemic Win — Why Were They so Hard to Keep?
Social distancing requirements and changes in travel patterns prompted cities to pilot new uses for street and sidewalk space. Then it got complicated.

Platform Pilsner: Vancouver Transit Agency Releases... a Beer?
TransLink will receive a portion of every sale of the four-pack.

Toronto Weighs Cheaper Transit, Parking Hikes for Major Events
Special event rates would take effect during large festivals, sports games and concerts to ‘discourage driving, manage congestion and free up space for transit.”

Berlin to Consider Car-Free Zone Larger Than Manhattan
The area bound by the 22-mile Ringbahn would still allow 12 uses of a private automobile per year per person, and several other exemptions.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
Custer County Colorado
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)