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.
10,000 Cities—and Counting
A novel approach to quantifying the world's urban population provides insight into a changing world.
Arizona Water Rights No Longer 'Use it or Lose it'
A bill approved with bipartisan support by the Arizona State Legislature offers new incentives for water conservation.
Tax Increment Financing District Considered for West Louisville
A prominently Black and low-income neighborhood in Louisville could gain a new tool for spurring local development—the law is intended also to control the effects of gentrification.
Watch: How Induced Demand Explains the Vicious Cycle of Congestion
A new Vox video tackles the controversial and counterintuitive concept of induced demand.
History (Un)made: Berkeley City Council Votes to Eliminate Single-Family Zoning
The city that invented single-family zoning in 1916, for discriminatory purposes, will completely remove that exclusionary legacy from its zoning code.