Op-Ed

Keeping track of the weird things that occur in the planning and government world – from rules prohibiting screaming on amusement park rides to “green” cremation techniques – isn't really necessary. But someone should do it anyway.

For politicians and developers, advocating for "smart growth" is easy. But for small towns, pursuing those goals can be a challenge. Researchers Anna Haines and Mary Edwards examined the "smart growth" plans of 30 small communities to see just how well small towns can adopt smart growth ideals.

Community design, the availability of amenities, and ease of mobility have a tremendous impact on the aging population, but the 50+ community is often ignored when these elements are being planned. AARP's Livable Communities Initiative offers guidance to planners on how to better understand, evaluate and plan for the needs of older adults.

National Park(ing) Day aims to show people how space traditionally reserved for cars could be turned into useable public space.

With Americans living in ever larger homes, the growth of the self storage industry demonstrates the irony of an American solution to an American problem -- overabundance.

One citizen planner's journey across the United States provides a glimpse at how stronger connections between people and places can create better communities.

Neither the block-level gentrification inspired by the patron saint of city planning nor the wide-scale mega-project redevelopment advocated by New York City's infamous planning czar are useful models for the realities of 21st century cities.

When it comes to redevelopment, many architects, planners and developers like to talk creating a sense of 'community'. But glossy plans and new buildings generally do little to strengthen an area's 'social' fabric -- rather, it often can cause the reverse.

Smart growth isn't an attack on the middle class, and those who argue as such are simply misrepresenting facts to distract from the real issues that planners are trying to mitigate.

While there's no doubt Los Angeles has a traffic problem, it would be a mistake to put congestion relief over neighborhood revitalization.

Stormwater mitigation rules are supposed to help protect the environment, but the current regulations also end up encouraging sprawl over urban redevelopment.

Most cities and planners seem unprepared to deal with the land use issues surrounding the nation's burgeoning cemeteries.

While multi-family housing is increasingly built with accessibility in mind, single-family homes have largely escaped any accessibility requirements. But with the boomer generation ready for retirement, the argument for basic accessibility requirements is stronger than ever.

If a correlation exists between birth rates and urbanization, does the post World War II baby boom owe its existence to urban sprawl?

Far too many discussions about the 'failures' of rent control don't take into account what such regulation is really designed to do -- namely, provide housing stability and protect against displacement. Before allowing rent control regulation to wither in New York City and elsewhere, it's a good idea to consider how much residents and society overall benefit from these imperfect policies.

Rather than seeking to eliminate the presence of the informal sector, urban planning should seek to accommodate this important component of urban economies.

While many local governments have been utilizing the eminent domain powers granted to them by the Kelo case, the American Planning Association hasn't been successful in finding ways to limit the decision's negative effects. But as Richard May, FAICP explains, there are many ways to reduce any damage done.

Libertarian biases and assumptions keep Reason Magazine authors stuck in traffic.

When membership is not much more than a subscription and decisions are made with little group input, the APA needs to adjust the way it interacts with its members, according to self-proclaimed "APA lifer" Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP.

Evacuating people after Hurricane Katrina revealed chronic shortcomings of local and regional evacuation planning. The barriers that hindered efforts in New Orleans apply not only to evacuation planning, but to planning in general.