Josh Stephens is the former editor of, and current contributing editor to, the California Planning & Development Report, the state's leading publication covering urban planning. Josh formerly edited The Planning Report and the Metro Investment Report, monthly publications covering, respectively, land use and infrastructure in Southern California.
As a freelance writer, Josh has contributed to Next American City, InTransition magazine, Planning Magazine, Sierra Magazine, and Volleyball Magazine. Josh also served as vice president of programs for the Westside Urban Forum, a leading civic organization on L.A.'s fashionable and dynamic Westside. Josh also served as editorial page editor of The Daily Princetonian and, briefly, the editor of You Are Here: The Journal of Creative Geography while he studied geography at the University of Arizona. He earned his BA in English from Princeton University and his master's in public policy from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
Josh can often be found gazing from high vantage points wondering what it all means.
In U.S., Urban Gondolas Face Uphill Battle
Cities in Latin America and Europe have embraced aerial transitways — AKA gondolas — as sustainable, convenient urban transport, especially in tricky geographies. American cities have yet to catch up.
Demise of Entertainment Industry Mirrors Demise of Housing in LA
Making movies has a lot in common with developing real estate: producers = developers; screenwriters = architects; directors = general contractors. The similarities are more than trivial. Both industries are now hurting in L.A.
Francis Ford Copolla’s Urban Planning Swan Song
Legendary director Francis Ford Coppola’s likely final major film, Megalopolis, celebrates design and urban planning. It is a dazzling mishmash of architectural, cinematic, and literary history.
Las Vegas Faces Opportunity to Stop Sprawl
Having sprawled for the past few decades, the Las Vegas region is bumping up against undevelopable federal lands. Those limits give it the chance to consider a denser, more urban future.
Racing Toward Dystopia
The latest installment in the Mad Max franchise is a more urgent warning about the perils of climate change and megalomania than ever before.