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.

Top Planning Trends of 2015
Pulling a few threads to unravel some of the biggest planning stories of the year.
Diluvial Days Coming to South Florida
Miami Beach is drafting its own textbook for how to respond to sea level rise. The New Yorker provides in-depth coverage of a region under siege by the sea that surrounds it.
Ten Years Later: Evaluating the Big Dig
Ten years after the completion of the Central Artery and Tunnel project—or the Big Dig, as it's more commonly known—has the project become more justifiable?

A Beloved Bridge Destroyed in the City of Bridges
The Greenfield Bridge could also be considered infamous, but it's for history to decide now.
Reviewing the Year in New York City Urban Planning
The Curbed New York team takes a tour of "the good, the bad, and the ugly" in urban planning from 2015.