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.

The Big Ideas Behind the Proposed 'Chicago Transit Redevelopment Trust'
The Chicago Central Area Committee has thrown its hand into the ring for the "100&Change" grant from the MacArthur Foundation.

Y Combinator's New Cities Project Gets Curiouser and Curiouser
The Silicon Valley start-up devoted to reinventing the city made a splashy hire this week.

Density Doesn't Measure the Success of Cities
Using density as a metric of urban quality is misleading and inadequate, according to an article on CityLab.

Lack of State, Local Infrastructure Investments Slowing the U.S. Economy
The Wall Street Journal builds a case that a slow down in state and local infrastructure investments is having a broad impact on the national economy.

In the U.S., Climate Politics Trump the Pope's Message
The encyclical "Laudato si: On the Care of Our Common Home" might have scored public relations points among environmentalists last year, but according to a new study, it didn't score any points with Catholics or the broader U.S. population.