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.

Defunct Hospital to Transform Into a Home for Neighborhood Investment in St. Louis
A truly ambitious, and thoroughly innovative development, project in St. Louis will adapt a former hospital facility to house numerous nonprofit and neighborhood investment organizations.

Neighborhood Group Kills Affordable Housing Proposal on Parking Concerns in Denver
An affordable housing project requested a waiver of parking requirements to build 36 deeply affordable housing units in Denver. A local neighborhood organization's opposition to the waiver won the day.

The 'Great American Outdoors Act' Signed Into Law
By signing this new law into effect, President Trump seems ot have departed from his administration's previous actions on public lands.

Legal Challenge Brings Down the Plano Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan
Plano Tomorrow, a comprehensive approved in 2015, has been rescinded and replaced with the city's previous master plan, approved in 1986.

Bus Lanes, Desired by Advocates for Chicago's Lake Shore Drive Project, Back on the Table
After releasing a list of project alternatives that didn't include new bus lanes in the existing roadway, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has changed its mind.