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.
Business Groups Sue Portland Over Homeless 'Safe Sleep Policy'
The Safe Sleep Policy, enacted by the mayor in February without City Council approval, allows homeless people to sleep in tents in select public areas and on sidewalks. Now a coalition of business groups says the policy was an overreach of power.

Houston's Floods a Reminder of the Importance of Wetlands Protection
The executive director of the Bayou Land Conservancy takes to the pages of the Houston Chronicle to describe the conservationist and landscape-focused efforts that can prevent floods like those that struck Houston this week.

Looking for Housing Solutions? Look to the Past
The development of Portland during the early decades of the 1900s reveals ideas for how to lessen the pressure on housing prices in the 2010s.

Now Arriving in the D.C. Area: Bus Rapid Transit
The newly opened section of the Metroway—already D.C. Metro's "premium bus service"—includes the region's first stretch of bus rapid transit.

New York MTA Departs the American Public Transportation Association
Could the cancellation the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority's membership in the American Public Transportation Association be the wakeup call the transit industry needs?