James Brasuell, AICP is the former editorial director of Planetizen and is now a senior public affairs specialist at the Southern California Association of Governments. James managed all editorial content and direction for Planetizen from 2014 to 2023, and was promoted from manging editor to editorial director in 2021. After a first career as a class five white water river guide in Trinity County in Northern California, James started his career in Los Angeles as a volunteer at a risk reduction center in Skid Row. Prior to joining Planetizen, James worked at the Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental Design, as an editor at Curbed LA, as editor of The Planning Report, and as a freelance contributor for The Architect’s Newspaper, the Urban Land Institute – Los Angeles Chapter, FORM, KCET, and the California Planning & Development Report.
Jennifer Keesmat, Former Chief Planner of Toronto, Running for Mayor
If Keesmaat wins the election, it would complete one of the highest-profile transitions from planner to politician in recent memory.
Breaking: Austin Moving on from CodeNEXT
The city of Austin's ambitious process of rewriting its Land Development Code has lost political support.
HUD Took a Strong Stance Against Local Control and Hardly Anyone Noticed
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development devoted an entire issue of a quarterly newsletter to land use regulations and the idea that local laws are strangling the nation's supply of affordable housing.
Lyft Will Pay You to Ditch Your Car for 30 Days
The transportation network company Lyft is pushing residents in the city of Chicago to experiment with a carless lifestyle.
Coming to Los Angeles in 2047: The Busiest Light Rail Route in the U.S.
An extended Crenshaw Line would cut north-south through the middle of the Los Angeles basin, connecting three rail transit lines and some of the busiest buses in the county. Some don't want to wait 30 years for the plan to come to fruition.