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.
Study: Planning Failed the Decaying Suburban Subdivision of Windy Ridge
A new study that examines the contributing and enabling factors that led to high foreclosure rates, neighborhood decline, and disparate impacts on low-income populations in the subdivision of Windy Ridge, near Charlotte, North Carolina.
Can Detroit Fix its Parking Enforcement Mess?
In a recent column for Detroit Free Press, Nancy Kaffer responded to a proposal by Detroit Mayor Kevin Orr to raise the price of a parking ticket in Detroit by $20 to $45.
(*Updated) Study Finds Fewer Young Adults Moving into Cities than Moving Away
An article on the Metro Trends Blog finds that data do not support the common narrative that young people are moving to cities in huge numbers. Most cities, according to the study, lost more adults aged 20-35 than they gained between 2000 and 2012.
Where’s the Nearest Airport? New Diagram Shows—for Every Place on Earth
"Each region is closer to a particular airport than any other," explains the creator of what's called a spherical Voronoi diagram. The diagram illustrates just how far that airport is.
How Well Does Light Rail Attract New Transit Riders?
The answer to the question in the headline is “not very.” Thirty years into the initial experiment, however, light rail has not been the game changer it was hoped to be.