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.

Plenty of Parking to Be Found on the Biggest Shopping Day of the Year
Strong Towns completes another year of its critique of parking policies, brought to retail districts all over the country on the biggest shopping day of the year: Black Friday.
Community Choice Utilities Gaining Power in California
Talk about bringing power to the people: eight regional governments in California are in various stages of adopting "community choice" utilities to buy power from the grid in the hopes of cleaning up their energy portfolio.

Krugman Argues the Supply Side to Combat Urban Inequality
Paul Krugman, one of the most influential voices of liberal policy in the United States, has identified a culprit in the U.S. affordability crisis: over-regulation.
Two Regional Transit Planning Efforts Underway in Portland
With a light rail network now reaching 60 miles, the Portland region is ready to explore its next regional transit options.
Report: China Clean Energy Investments Beat U.S., U.K, and France Combined
When climate change initially became a powerful political talking point, the dirty economies of developing countries might have made U.S. efforts seem inconsequential. Now the roles of reversed, and the U.S. has some catching up to do.