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.
D.C. Metro's Mea Culpa: Bad Service Responsible for Declining Ridership
While cities like New York and San Francisco's transit systems are bursting at the seams, D.C. Metro's rail system lost 5 percent of its ridership between 2010 and 2015. This week Metro acknowledged some of its fault in that trend.
Glut of New Supply Shaking Up the Apartment Market
An industry report finds rising vacancies rates and lots of new supply coming down the pipeline. Could the nation's renters finally be in the market for some relief on the cost of housing?
Fayetteville Ends Minimum Parking Requirements for Commercial Uses
Fayetteville, Arkansas, home to the University of Arkansas and neighbor to Bentonville, home of Walmart, has taken a national leadership role in parking policy by ending minimum parking requirements for non-residential uses.
On the Perpetual Crisis of American Cities
A long and ranging article in the New Yorker surveys non-fiction, art, and other manifestations of intellectualism for insight into the plight of the city—to always be cast in some manner of morality tale.
A Flood Zone Real Estate Boom in Post-Sandy New York
Has New York done enough to continue to build new high-end buildings in flood zones around the city?