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.

Census Bureau Launches Data Collection Projects to Track COVID-19 Effects in Real Time
Three new projects will help provide a better sense of the economic and societal effects of the pandemic.

Bikes Take Priority in Post-Lockdown Paris
Faced with the task of rethinking its transportation systems in the face of the ongoing public health crisis, Paris and the Île-de-France are clearing the way for people on bikes.

Bottom Falls Out on Architecture Billings Index
The Architecture Billings Index for March 2020 set new standards of collapse.

Congestion Pricing in Manhattan Likely Stuck in COVID-19 Limbo
The federal government was already slow to cooperate with a plan to charge automobile drivers for entering certain parts of Manhattan, but with coronavirus commanding so much attention, the project isn't likely to move forward any time soon.

Coronavirus Spreading to the White, Trump-Voting Suburbs
The spread of coronavirus doesn't fit a tidy demographic narrative, according to new analysis by William Frey.