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.
Advocates Tout Community Land Trusts for Solutions to Displacement, Blight
Community land trusts are a favorite tool of advocates who want to take a communitarian approach to property and public space in cities facing the challenges of population decline, blight, and gentrification.
Nation's First All-Electric Bus Route Launches in Stockton, California
A city once infamous for municipal bankruptcy is now setting a standard for public transit technology.
Climate Change Impacts at the County Level
A recent study lends new specificity of the human cost and economic damage wreaked by climate change in the coming decades.
Lessons in Freeway Widening
The lesson is simple: don't widen freeways if you want to reduce congestion and auto-dependence.
Raising the Alarms as Hurricane Harvey Heads for Houston and the Gulf Coast
Hurricane Harvey was expected to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday. If the damage in human and economic terms is terrible, a lack of infrastructure maintenance and development responsibility will be to blame.