Neighborhood Planning
Sweden's 'One-Minute City' Reimagines the Street at a Hyper-Local Level
Rather than trying to meet all of a community's needs within a one-minute radius, Sweden's Street Moves pilot program gives residents the power to decide how street space gets used.
East Boston Kicks Off Series of New Neighborhood Plans
Planners and officials in Boston are gathering feedback from the community as an initial step in the recently announced planning and zoning process for East Boston.
PlanIt Podcast: The Value of Neighborhood Groups in Planning
Neighborhood is a term loosely used when talking about any certain area of a community. In this episode, we explore the value of collaboration between neighborhood groups and cities in local planning processes and best practices.
Are Teens Tired of Commuting?
Carole Turley Voulgaris guest blogs about a recent article in the Journal of Planning Education and Research.
How Seattle Is Curbing the Power of Neighborhood Groups
In Seattle, City Hall wants to open the neighborhood planning process to new demographics. The changes have rattled traditional neighborhood councils.
New Neighborhood Plan in San Francisco Pitches the Public Benefits of Density
Central SoMa ("South of Market") in San Francisco will soon have a new neighborhood plan. Planners hope zoning changes will reap rewards in property values and public benefits.
Neighborhoods Push for Benefits in New York Zoning Plan
The Brooklyn neighborhood of Gowanus was recently added to Mayor de Blasio’s sweeping zoning reform plan. But Gowanus also has plans of its own.
Why Detroit Was Cursed from the Start
Detroit native Pete Saunders makes the case that poor planning put the nail in Motown's casket.
Are TODs Really PODs?
For a while now, I've wondered if we have been mislabeling the development around well functioning transit stops as transit-oriented developments (TODs). This may seem odd, because numerous studies have shown that property values can increase by 20% to 40% percent around transit stops, particularly rail stations (although the increases are uneven).
Los Angeles Retooling its Neighborhood Representation Experiment
After 10 years in operation, the Neighborhood Council system in L.A. represents a great deal of unfulfilled potential, say City Councilmember Paul Krekorian. With that, and the city's dire financial straits in mind, Krekorian is proposing reforms.
Digging Holes
Once upon a time there was a transportation planner driving thru the sunbelt. He pulled into a truck stop and while fueling his vehicle he noticed a couple of workers working on the shoulder down the road. One man appeared to be digging holes about three feet across and three feet deep along the side of the road.
The Post-Olympics Neighborhood
For a few weeks in 2012 a part of East London will be host to 20,000 journalists. After the Summer Olympics, though, the area set to host the media will be a mixed use neighborhood of nearly 3,000 homes, if all goes as planned.
Redefining a Planning Department
The L.A. Department of City Planning is experiencing radical changes in leadership, planning process, and organizational structure. The leaders--past, present, and, future--of planning in L.A. gathered in August to discuss a vision for the future.
Breaking Down the Walls in Jerusalem
Deputy Mayor Naomi Tsur of Jerusalem is proposing that the city must 'emerge from its [many] walls', and connect and enhance its vibrant public spaces.
The Failure of the Public Process, San Francisco-Style
David Prowler, a former San Francisco planning commissioner, says that the public process of the city fails to engage the people of the community.
Texas Pastor Builds a Neighborhood
Though he originally planned to build a prayer center on part of a 20 acre property he was pursuing, a Texas Pastor has expanded his plans into an all-out neighborhood with more than 450 homes.
Rethinking Lower Manhattan: What If?
Since its founding in the mid 1990s, Alliance for Downtown New York has long been one of the world's leading business improvement districts. This non-profit organization has presided over the reinvention of New York's historic Financial District as a thriving 24-hour live/work district, while retaining a respectable share of the city's financial services sector. The Alliance built a network of Wi-Fi hotspots that lit up nearly every major public space in the district - not just outdoor locations like Bowling Green and City Hall Park, but also indoor atria like the Winter Garden and 60 Wall Street.
The Return of Streetcar Architecture
Portland, Oregon sees the revival of building styles not seen since the last time streetcars rolled through the city.
Opportunities (and Mindfulness) of the Emerging HUD Blueprint
By any measure, the HUD that is now emerging from the shadows of eight years of amateur hour, is focused on the right things: markets, coherent roles for public and private sector alike, and energy efficiency. Indeed the emphasis on "urbanism" and "regionalism" illustrates that this administration "gets it".
Smart Growth Success Stories of 2008
Kaid Benfield, Director of the Smart Growth Program at the NRDC, picks some if his favorite success stories of smart growth transformation, from Atlanta's Beltline to Berlin's Hackesche Hofe.
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.
