Placemaking
Are You Getting the Change You Want from the Status Quo?
That question may seem like a contradiction, but it couldn't be more pertinent to communities and land use—existing codes and policies generate change by shaping investment.
How Form-Based Ideas Could Transform Community Planning
Let's discuss how community planning could be fundamentally reorganized to improve both efficiency and placemaking.
What is a 'Placemaker' (Besides an Overused Buzzword)?
Placemaking is an overused term and under-comprehended subcategory of the urban design and planning fields. Howard Blackson explains what it means and how it has evolved in his own career.
Reading Cities Cover to Cover, and Why
Chuck Wolfe underscores the importance of a holistic view of urban places, referencing themes of common experience, aesthetics, feelings of happiness, safety, or security—a basic narrative of the city that often goes beyond first impressions.
10 Books for Kids to Spark an Urban Imagination
Next City has published a list of ten "great picture books" that explore urban life for the curious and imaginative children in your life.
Brainstorm: What Are the Creative Uses of a Roofless Building?
Becky McCray recently posed the question: "What can you do with a roofless building?"
Checking in with Jan Gehl
The Guardian ran a long feature examining the life and work of Jan Gehl, well known to planners as the urban "rethinker" behind the movement to design cities and places to the human scale.
Former D.C. Mayor Reminds Cities to Retain a Sense of Place
Anthony Williams, who served two terms as D.C. mayor and is credited with the city's turnaround, spoke about creating great neighborhoods at a panel event held by local media company Elevation DC. Cities, he said, need to retain their sense of place.
Top 10 Books - 2015
Planetizen is pleased to release its list of the ten best books in urban planning, design, and development published in 2014.
The Promise of Renewal in Massachusetts Gateway Cities
Massachusetts is funding a placemaking initiative to renew its old industrial gateway cities. Available funds are only $16 million, but there's a plan to make the money go a long way.
Eight 'PlacePlans' for Michigan Cities
The PlacePlans project—led by the Michigan Municipal League and the Michigan State University School of Planning, Design and Construction—recently released plans for placemaking efforts in eight Michigan communities.
Better Streets Include Transit
Dan Reed examines the Green Line in Minneapolis near the campus of the University of Minnesota as a case study of how transit can improve streets.
Recalling Our Basic Pride of Place
In the fifth of his "place-decoding" series from France, Chuck Wolfe recalls how we carry with us the ability to mine pride from place, even in places that are, perhaps, least expected to shine.
A Comprehensive Accounting of Economic and Environmental Performance: Who's in?
For the last several decades, North American cities have used growth as a primary economic engine. Increasingly less dense new growth is subsidized by the more dense core, but requires a growth rate that is not supportable in the long term.
Exploring the 'Finesse of the Avenue'
In his fourth "place-decoding" essay from France, Chuck Wolfe illustrates how a traditional placemaking intervention is especially powerful when underlying urban fundamentals align.
'Trees in Hard Landscapes': Guide for High-Performance Urban Infrastructure
A new cross-disciplinary report cites 32 case studies to offer practical solutions for integrating trees into civic spaces and surface car parks.
A Day at the Beach in Downtown Detroit
Inspired by the Paris Plages temporary urban beach along the Seine, a temporary beach in a park in Downtown Detroit is inspiring the Motor City to rethink its public spaces.
The Importance of Inter-Urban Walkability
In his third "place-decoding" essay from France, Chuck Wolfe recalls all that we can learn from walking between settled places.
What's Your 'Elevator Pitch' for Greener, Healthier Cities?
Kaid Benfield shares his placemaking pitch.
The Option of Sensing the City
In his second Huffington Post article on "place-decoding," Chuck Wolfe argues for considered attention to enhancing people's abilities to discern the city around them.
Barrett Planning Group LLC
City of Cleburne
KTUA Planning and Landscape Architecture
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
City of Laramie, Wyoming
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.
