Smart Growth
How will the Physical Urban Environment be Affected by Obamacare?
Los Angeles County planner Clement Lau discusses what the Affordable Care Act means for hospital construction, design, and expansion.
New Research On Smart Growth Benefits
New research indicates that smart growth helps residents become wealthier and healthier.
Why Don’t More Conservatives Support Smart Growth?
A self-identified conservative who supports the “broader vision of smart growth” has identified a reason why more conservatives don’t support smart growth: the political economy of sprawl.
New Urbanism Gets a New Leader
Lynn Richards, formerly of the U.S. EPA's Office of Sustainable Communities, is set to become President of the Congress for the New Urbanism in July. In this interview, Richards says that forging new alliances will be a key goal for her.
How Not To Measure Housing Affordability
Critics argue that smart growth reduces housing affordability. Their criticisms are partly legitimate and largely wrong, based on incomplete and biased analysis.
Come Together Locally for Smarter Growth
Connecting competence to organized support is key to reversing the Sisyphean cycle of urban placemaking.
How Would the Movie Speed Look in Today's Los Angeles?
Twenty years after the movie Speed, which took place on the Big Blue Bus, Metro rail system, and other transit facilities, Keanu Reeves and crew might not recognize L.A.'s current transit system. L.A. County planner Clement Lau surveys the changes.
How Agenda 21 Trumps Planning
Agenda 21, a nonbinding United Nations resolution signed in 1992 by 170 world leaders, was developed to encourage "sustainable development." Now it’s a political talking point that kills planning efforts all over the country.
Urbanists Left and Right
Conservatives are becoming more visible within the smart growth movement; they differ in some ways both from liberal smart growth activists and from conventional conservatives.
San Diego Satellite Town Asks: Smart Growth or Trojan Horse?
San Diego County's "most walkable city" is being challenged to identify the real smart growth: what it has or what is being proposed. At issue: a plan amendment for a high density project near transit. But is the project real?
Exit Interview: D.C. Planning Director Harriet Tregoning Departs for HUD
During Tregoning's seven years at the helm of the Washington, D.C. Office of Planning, she pushed the city to adopt smart-growth policies touching all aspects of life--not just land use, but transportation, the economy, and more.
Change Management: Do Planners Lead Or Follow?
The world is changing, and so must we. Do we wait for external influences to force change, or can we lead our organizations to do better?
Recapping the Tenure of D.C. Planning Director Harriet Tregoning
Harriet Tregoning recently announced the end of her seven-year tenure as planning director of Washington D.C. Called by some the “futurist-in-chief,” Tregoning will head to HUD, where she’ll head the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities.
Location Optimization Tools: Toward More Comprehensive and Multi-Modal Indicators
New tools are becoming available to help people evaluate the quality of walking, cycling, public transit and automobile accessibility when making home location decisions. This information can help create more efficient and sustainable communities.
What Makes San Diego Walkers Stop So Much?
San Diego's downtown street grid features smaller blocks than almost all other major U.S. cities. Small blocks mean more intersections, less distance between them, and a lot of interrupted bipedaling. Bill Adams reviews some potential fixes.
Should Britain Scrap its Green Belts to Build Houses?
Housing construction hasn't kept up with Britain's robust population growth. The Economist floats several ideas for spurring development: relax permissions for developing greenfields, incentivize building on brownfields, and tax the value of land.
Portland Provides a Lesson in the Dangers of Densification
The Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood of Portland, OR has seen a wave of new development over the past two decades. But without the expansion of basic services and amenities, the area is struggling to integrate newcomers. Is poor planning to blame?
Fear of "Hyperdensity" Grips Toronto's Leaders
Since it was passed in 2006, Toronto's growth has largely gone according to its Official Plan, with new development clustered in key areas of the city. But the city's chief planner and others fear some areas are in danger of becoming "hyperdense".
The Enduring Allure of the Single-Family Home
Another of those highly-cited surveys of the living preferences of Americans is out and it finds support for (somewhat contradictory) elements of both smart growth and suburban development patterns.
Populist Urbanism: Beyond the Creative Class
Smart Growth needs to adopt a more populist message, argues Robert Steuteville, and demonstrate how cities can empower people of all classes. Could "Lean Urbanism" provide the foundation?
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
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.
