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.
Art Walks and Gentrification, a Minneapolis Case Study
Art walks, or open studio tours, often take place in once-gritty neighborhoods trending toward the hip and expensive, but how responsible are the events for the effects of gentrification that emerge?
Visualizing Worst-Case Scenario Sea Level Rise on the Texas Coast
Much of the state political leadership in Texas has been slow to accept the existence of climate change, much less the role of the state's economy, land use, and infrastructure planning in exacerbating the crisis. Maybe this will help wake them up?
APA Releases its First Guide to Equity
The American Planning Association (APA) makes a clear statement that planners are especially suited to address matters of social equity.
The 'Economic Value Atlas': A New Tool for Assessing Economic Development
In an effort to generate a new approach to economic development and infrastructure investment, the Brookings Institution has developed a new "Economic Value Atlas."
Tempering the Expectations for the Minneapolis 2040 Plan
The ability of the landmark Minneapolis 2040 plan, which adds density in various forms all over the city, to solve the cities climbing housing prices and growing lack of affordable housing, might have been exaggerated.