Exclusives

Home For Sale Signs

BLOG POST

How Do We Calculate Demand for Housing?

Actual demand for a place's housing might exceed increases in the number of residents or households.

October 4 - Michael Lewyn

Smart City

BLOG POST

The Physical Security Challenges of Smart Cities

There’s no doubt that a smart city’s network will be ultra-responsive, fast, and reliable. Can the same be said for the physical security measures needed?

September 26 - Devin Partida

Suburban development in Long Island, NY

PLANOPEDIA

What Is a Suburb?

Another term lacking a consensus definition in the field of planning, "suburb" is usually deployed to describe residential communities outside central urban areas.

September 23 - James Brasuell

A Black woman works in a shop to prepare electronics for recycling..

FEATURE

Curbing Electronic Waste One George Foreman Grill at a Time

An Interview with East Atlanta's CoCo The Geek, who saw an increase in household electronic waste during the Covid-19 pandemic and decided to do something about it.

September 23 - Mark Tirpak

Robert Moses at the ribbon-cutting for the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

PLANOPEDIA

Who Is Robert Moses?

Known to some as the 'master builder' and to others as a villain in the history of New York City's development, Robert Moses was an influential and controversial city official who guided the construction of hundreds of projects in the mid-20th century.

September 22 - Diana Ionescu


A map showing a heat map that represents commute times in an urban area.

BLOG POST

Smart Growth Loves Heatmaps

Smart growth can provide many important benefits that are easy to see using informative and beautiful heatmaps—our complex world as viewed by all-knowing gods.

September 20 - Todd Litman

The city of Siena in Italy, located on a hillside and bathed in Tuscan sunlight.

FEATURE

Building on Jacobs: The City Emergent; Beyond Streets and Buildings

A science of cities reveals the way cities grow, and why.

September 20 - Fanis Grammenos


Greenfield Multi-Family

PLANOPEDIA

What Is Greenfield Development?

Greenfield land has remained untouched by previous development. Some definitions of greenfield land also include agricultural land. Thus, greenfield development encroaches on the natural environment to expand the built environment.

September 16 - James Brasuell

Northern California Toll Lane

PLANOPEDIA

What Is Congestion Pricing?

Congestion pricing raises the cost of driving on certain roadways at certain times, reducing traffic,encouraging alternate transportation modes, and generating revenue from the use of infrastructure.

September 13 - Diana Ionescu

Texas Flood

BLOG POST

Are Tall Buildings Safer When It Floods?

Conventional wisdom is that the most resilient city is that keeps high-density housing out of flood zones. But if flooding can happen miles inland, is that still true?

September 13 - Michael Lewyn

Green Building

FEATURE

Sustainable Real Estate Investments Are No Longer Optional

Greenwashing won't cut it anymore, and investors are increasingly demanding that all real estate developments and existing assets be assessed in the most holistic way possible.

September 12 - Breana Wheeler

Texas Capitol Building

BLOG POST

Preemption of Green Cities in Red States

State legislatures, frequently acting on behalf of corporate interests, are preempting local reforms and regulations necessary to limit the emissions that cause climate change.

September 7 - Joan Fitzgerald

2019 National Planning Conference

FEATURE

There's More Than One Path to AICP Certification

The AICP Candidate Pilot Program launched in 2017 allows for planners to begin the journey to AICP certification earlier in their careers—even while they are still in school.

September 6 - James Brasuell

An image of historic Penn Station when it was first built in 1910, viewed from the outside with people, carriages, and streetcars passing by.

PLANOPEDIA

What Is Historic Preservation?

Historic preservation is a controversial, highly contested cause, with a long history of failures and successes in the United States.

September 2 - James Brasuell

Washington D.C. - The White House

BLOG POST

White House Announces Plans for 100,000 Affordable Homes

The Biden administration has proposed a suite of policy and funding programs designed to create and protect 100,000 affordable housing units. If successful, the program will still fall well short of the need.

September 1 - James Brasuell

New York City Public Housing Project

PLANOPEDIA

What is Public Housing?

Born out of the progressive ideals of the New Deal and a desire to improve the standard of living in poor urban neighborhoods, American public housing has taken several forms as political opinion about subsidized housing shifts.

August 30 - Diana Ionescu

14th Street Traffic

BLOG POST

Clean Vehicles Versus Vehicle Travel Reductions: Better Transportation Emission Reduction Planning

There are many possible ways to reduce transportation emissions, some of which provide large co-benefits. Unfortunately, current evaluation practices tend to overlook some of the best. Lets examine why.

August 30 - Todd Litman

A group of socially distanced tents for the homeless are set up on a parking lot in San Francisco's Civic Center.

BLOG POST

Cities Need More Public Bathrooms–Well Beyond the Pandemic

COVID-19 laid bare the dismal state of public bathrooms in America, and some cities stepped up to add more facilities. But why remove them while the need remains?

August 30 - Diana Ionescu

A group of protestors support Black Lives Matter and call for police reforms while gathered on top of a bus stop in Los Angeles.

FEATURE

Reparative Planning as Movement Building

The "Metro as Sanctuary" campaign provides an example of movement-based planning. This kind of planning is relational and solidaristic, with an emphasis on collective decision-making, complementary divisions of labor, and mutual learning.

August 25 - Lily Song

A aerial view of Ladera Ranch, California, showing a variety of buildings and open space.

PLANOPEDIA

What Are Master Planned Communities?

Now frequently associated with retirees and sprawling developments in the U.S. Sun Belt, master planned communities, also known as new towns or planned communities, were invented as an escape from the haphazard growth of urban areas in the mid-20th century.

August 24 - James Brasuell

Professor of Urban Planning

Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Transportation Planner I

KFH Group Inc.

Director, Strategy and Research

Greater Baltimore Committee

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.

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