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.
Palo Alto Stalls on Controversial Measure to Cap Commercial Development
In some places, it might be hard to imagine even considering a cap on the development of commercial development. Palo Alto, home to Stanford University and a hot bed of California's tech industry, did just that in City Council earlier this week.
Cleveland Commences James Corner-Designed Remodel of the Public Square
A sweeping remodel of Cleveland's Public Square (designed by James Corner Field Operations) will begin construction later this month, to be complete in time for the 2016 Republican National Convention.
A Modest Proposal: A Scientific Method for the Beauty of Cities
Alain de Botton has an idea that beauty is not in the eye of the beholder, when it comes to cities anyways. He also proposes a system for evaluating the beauty of the world's cities (spoiler: most cities don't qualify).
Book Review: Zoned in the USA
"Zoned in the USA: The Origins and Implications of American Land-Use Regulation," by Sonja Hirt, describes the exceptional characteristics, compared to European land use regulations, that make U.S. zoning laws so conducive to sprawl.
Visualizing the Spread of the OpenStreetMap Project
OpenStreetMap has released an animated map to illustrate the impressive growth of the project over the first ten years of its existence.