Urban History

Cobblestone street with streetcar line, row of vintage streetlights on left, and colorful restaurant and shop awnings on right on River Street in Savannah, Georgia.

Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts

From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.

March 12, 2024 - Strong Towns

Communicative Arts Academy: Rebuilding Compton for Artists and Community Life

In the 1960s-70s, a group of artists called the Compton Communicative Arts Academy renovated buildings across Compton and transformed vernacular, underutilized structures into venues for and objects of art.

April 29, 2020 - KCET Artbound

Aurelian Wall

How Transportation Technology Determines the Footprint of Cities

The Marchetti Constant, the willingness of people to travel for about a half an hour to get to and from work, explains the size of cities in history, and the metropolitan areas of today.

August 30, 2019 - CityLab

Tuscany

'The Well-Tempered City': An Epic Book, and Why

In a review of Jonathan F.P. Rose's new book, 'The Well-Tempered City,' Chuck Wolfe enthusiastically endorses Rose's refreshing world view.

September 28, 2016 - The Huffington Post

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.

September 25, 2014 - The Huffington Post

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.

September 13, 2014 - The Huffington Post

Learning to 'Place-Decode' the Elements of Urbanism

Chuck Wolfe champions the role of France's attachment to place as a laboratory for decoding the essential elements of urbanism.

September 5, 2014 - The Huffington Post

Edinburgh

Why Urban History Matters

Chuck Wolfe's recent reconnaissance of Edinburgh provides a foil for his rallying cry: Going forward, let’s not discount the influence of history’s recurring themes in how we redevelop the urban realm.

March 4, 2014 - myurbanist

The Dynamic Potential of Urbanism Without Effort

Chuck Wolfe summarizes a major tenet of his new book and suggests we risk ignoring the back story of urban forms and functions by failing to truly understand the traditional relationships between people and place.

May 5, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

Lessons Learned: Five Principles of People and Place

Employing material gathered for his forthcoming book, Chuck Wolfe argues for layered, historical illustrations of how people relate to built and sociocultural communities around them, and offers 5 principles and companion lessons for placemaking.

January 16, 2013 - myurbanist

A Plea for PR: Bicycling in the City

A longtime urban cyclist compares cycling today with cycling twenty years ago, and considers how best to move forward.

March 9, 2009 - The New York Times

News from HUD User

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Call for Speakers

Mpact Transit + Community

New Updates on PD&R Edge

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

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The best of the Internet—since 2002.

Top Apps

Planning apps for a brave new world.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

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.