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.
Vancouver Planners Hope to Leverage New Subway for Public Benefit
Vancouver is scheduled to begin construction on a new subway in 2020, and planners are laying out a vision for the neighborhoods surrounding the new line, including turning Broadway into a "Great Street."
Poor Returns for L.A.'s Transit on Demand Pilot
Similar to microtransit on demand programs in other cities, Los Angeles' ongoing experiment is proving to be very expensive (for the public) for the benefit of very few riders.

5G Forces a Local Control Struggle
Local governments are fighting control after federal regulators removed some of the regulatory protections that could slow private companies from grabbing land in an effort

A Whole Lane Devoted to Buses on Oakland, CA's Busiest Street
A bus-only lane on busy Broadway in Oakland, a section of the larger East Bay Bus Rapid Transit project, will get the red painted lane treatment.

A Detailed Map of the Nation's Auto Emissions
The New York Times illustrates the scope and scale of the great project still facing the United States: to decrease greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector of its economy.