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.
The Pretext Problem: The Pitfalls of Planning While Bargaining
Lots of planning is discretionary. Cities and developers negotiate what builders will do for cities in exchange for the right to build, creating an incentive for bad rules, eroding the public's faith in zoning, and enabling political corruption.
The Future of Downtowns Still Hangs in the Balance
Center City in Philadelphia offers a case study for one of the largest and potentially most consequential contingencies of the pandemic: What happens to downtowns is most workers never come back to the office?
TxDOT Promises to Reverse Some of the Damage Caused by Urban Freeways in Dallas
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is in the early stages of planning for two projects that could leverage plans to rebuild two freeways in the city with plan to reconnect the neighborhoods they severed.
The Next Mayor Will Have to Decide in New York's Post-Pandemic Parking Conflicts
The ongoing political controversy about the priorities of the public realm in New York City is likely to last into the next mayoral administration.
Latest Traffic Safety Data Adds Grim Death Count to an Already Tragic Year
The public health epidemic created by dangerous roads, dangerous cars, and dangerous drivers was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to recent data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.