General Forum

Let me reiterate, planning is not a REAL profession. It's a fake profession. And if you ever find a job, you'll be sitting behind a desk doing paper work. You'll never do anything significant because planners don't have any real skills.

Grad Student looking for a good program abroad...

I'm looking to rewrite a portion of our land development code that deals with requiring additional open space and in one of our brainstorming sessions, the questions came up asking, "If an HOA goes defunct and has property throughout the subdivision that is owned by that association, then who would take over the ownership, and more importantly, the maintenance of that property?" If the county has no inclination to purchase the property then who would be responsible for this property?

Columbia County Government has recently posted a survey that looks at what retirees, or those looking to retire, desire to see in a community and we need your help.

Dear Planetizen Community,

I've been tasked with writing a sidewalk provision to our land development code and we know there might be some opposition from the developers/building community. I want to be ready for such opposition so I was hoping that someone out there would know of or have in their possession a study/report that was conducted that shows how much value sidewalks add to the value of a home, commercial/industrial properties, etc. I feel that by having such a document would provide me with the justification for why we are amending the code to include a sidewalk provision in it. If anyone could assist me with this I would certainly appreciate it. Thanks !

I recently received my undergraduate degree in planning and am thinking about graduate school. A masters in city planning would definitely be easier for me but I want to go for architecture as I am very interested in it and it would expand my range of knowledge and experience. My only concern is that I really don't know all that much about architecture coming out of planning school.

Do you think it is a good idea for a planner to pursue a masters in architecture? And will I have a tough time getting into a good architecture school with a planning background?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Can buildings encourage bad behavior?

Attention Upstate and Hudson Valley Region New Yorkers: an advocacy effort is underway to make sure the soon-to-be-rebuilt Livingston Avenue Railroad Bridge will include bike & ped accommodations.

Is there any use in getting Master's in Transportation Planning and a Master's in Transportation Engineering? Or would it just be redundant? I'm considering submatriculating into a MCP-Transpo program (I'm currently a Penn undergraduate) and getting the MCP degree in a fifth year, and then getting the engineering degree after, or applying to the dual degree programs at MIT and Berkeley.

I'm looking into furthering my expertise in urban design and am wondering if I'll have to move to do it or if there is a good online (or even partiallyonline) grad program out there. Thanks in advance!

All,

I just accepted a planning position in a community that is wanting to do low impact development. Would anyone have any recommendations on any books, reports/studies or publications that would give me some suggestions/recommendations when creating developments that desire to have a low impact on the community they reside in?

I'm hoping to get a few examples of Tree/View and Sunlight Ordinances as well as some feedback from other government employees using these ordinances on how they are working in their communities and what the major drawbacks to the ordinance are?

Any help and feedback will be useful! THANKS!

Amber El-Hajj
City of Mill Valley

I'm applying for grad school programs in a few months but I need some advice from some professional planners and experienced architects.

Pedestrian walkways / bikeways on Rail Bridges. I'm looking for examples.

What are the underrated mid-sized cities across the US?

What's a useful Bachelors degree for Urban Planning?

What North American school can get me close?

Why is there such a chasm between the work of private planners and municipal planners?

There are web communication tools that architects, designers, and urban planners can utilize to communicate more effectively. How effective is your public engagement strategy? Are you marketing your planning services competitively? Here are some questions to answer.

USC or GT