Op-Ed

Robert E. Smith, AICP, explains the impact of recent court decisions on the ability of local governments to control the placement of wireless towers in their communities.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has a plan to help the nation's hardest hit homeowners and neighborhoods. But by concentrating assistance in the most devastated areas, few places will be saved, writes Charles Buki.

Congressman Earl Blumenauer of Oregon thinks that an Obama administration, working with Congress, could effect change and create a new vision to Rebuild and Renew America.

Mike Lydon of Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company reports on the recent Transport Summit in Charlotte, NC, where presentations ranged from discussions of 'context-sensitive' road design to crafting the 2009 federal transportation bill.

Oil is running out and the climate is changing. How this impacts cities will largely be determined by how the urban design field reacts.

If the Frederick Law Olmsted of 1857 offered to plan and manage your city’s central park, you probably wouldn’t hire him. The 35-year-old then was a farmer, journalist and former sailor with no formal training in architecture, engineering or any related field. Though he didn’t have much technical expertise, he had great leadership skills. Those gave him the opportunity to succeed, and helped him become successful, according to Leonardo Vazquez.

On the first day of summer, Saturday, June 21, 2008, sixty urban planners, environmentalists, public health experts, artists, and community activists boarded Amtrak’s Surfliner at Union Station to participate in a day long mobile conference between the cities of Los Angeles, CA and Tijuana, Baja California.

Foreclosures are blighting neighborhoods across the country. There's no question that something needs to be done. But to react effectively, the field of community development needs to carefully consider which areas should be targeted and how much can be saved, argues Charles Buki.

The problems of today's inner cities and the problems of the suburbs are inextricably linked, says William E. Finley, author of Curing Urbanitis.

Martin H. Krieger compares the lack of oversight involved in today's financial crisis with the transparency and responsibility involved in making bridges.

In the midst of this financial crisis, it is doubly important to understand the economic perspective on urban planning and real estate development, argues USC Professor Peter Gordon.

On L.A.'s Skid Row, revitalization efforts fail to consider the human aspects of life on the streets, according to Rocco Pendola.

Mumbai, India's Dharavi is one of the world's biggest slums -- and its most notorious. Look beyond the stereotype, however, and you'll find a successful settlement with a vibrant community and economy. But developers want to raze it all and start again. Urban development consultant Prakash M. Apte says Dharavi is a model that should be replicated, not redeveloped.

Chuck Donley argues that planners should get over their fear of being pigeonholed as "the technically-savvy" one in the office and learn to embrace new graphics technologies like Google Earth.

Leonardo Vázquez, AICP/PP, applauds recent changes to the AICP Certification Maintenance Program that reduce costs and improve access.

Pineville, North Carolina was expanding rapidly and at risk of losing its identity. To preserve the town's character, planners put their faith in the common brick. City planning officials Kevin Icard and Travis Morgan bring us the story.

Not every story of urban neighborhood revival involves grand architectural visions, elegant master-planning or even gentrification. Sometimes, a neighborhood can be improved just by diligently matching up potential homeowners with houses that otherwise would be abandoned, and developers with empty lots, says architect Michael Poris.

Restrictions on expanding into urban peripheries are responsible for the significant lack of affordable housing in the U.S., U.K., Australia and New Zealand, argues Hugh Pavletich, co-author of the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey.

Wes Marshall and Norman Garrick illustrate the problem with parking plans today, and how to fix them.

In response to a recent essay about an apparent relationship between urbanism and social alienation, Robert Steuteville argues that the study in question -- and its press -- twists the facts.