Exclusives

COVID-19

BLOG POST

A Cheer (Or Maybe Even Two) For Redundancy

Is government too efficient to protect us from epidemics?

April 6 - Michael Lewyn

Coronavirus Streets

BLOG POST

Cities Should Take Advantage of Low Car Traffic to Accelerate Transit Construction

Beverly Hills is taking advantage of empty streets by accelerating construction on the Purple Line Subway extension currently cutting its way across Los Angeles. More cities should follow Beverly Hills' lead.

April 2 - James Brasuell

Social Distancing

BLOG POST

COVID-19 Appreciation Day

April Fool's Day is a good day to consider life from a virus's perspective. Our tiny friends have many positive attributes.

April 1 - Todd Litman

Connectivity

FEATURE

The Dots of Connectivity and Broken Cultural Links

Connectivity is not just a question of geometry, according to this article by Fanis Grammenos. It's critical to consider what people connect for and how.

April 1 - Fanis Grammenos

Surveillance Technology

BLOG POST

Will Infrastructure Planners Become Responsible for Facial Recognition Systems?

Facial recognition offers both benefits and risks. Planners can have a role in ensuring more of the former than the latter.

April 1 - Kayla Matthews


Suburban Home

BLOG POST

Disparate Impact Won't Save Us From Exclusionary Zoning

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) imposes liability upon landlords and governments whose policies have a discriminatory effect against racial minorities. However, the courts have interpreted this doctrine narrowly.

March 30 - Michael Lewyn

Bike Path

BLOG POST

Planners and Pandemics: Identifying Problems and Providing Solutions

Planners are professional problem solvers. Let’s see how our methods can be applied to the COVID-19 pandemic.

March 27 - Todd Litman


Homeless

FEATURE

The Crisis Within the Crisis: Homelessness and Housing Pushed to the Brink by COVID-19

Cities, states, and the federal government are trying to prevent a repeat of 2008 while still facing the challenges of inequality and poverty that grew out of the previous recession.

March 26 - James Brasuell

Tomatoes

BLOG POST

Planning Healthy Communities—Beyond the Hype

Evidence-based research can help planners create truly healthy communities. No junk-science please.

March 25 - Todd Litman

JR Shinkansen

PLANOPEDIA

What Is High-Speed Rail?

Beginning with Japan in the 1960s, more and more countries are embracing high-speed trains to streamline domestic travel. Operating at speeds often in excess of 160 mph, high-speed rail networks are now well-developed across Europe and, more recently, in China.

March 23 - Philip Rojc

Los Angeles, California

BLOG POST

Debating the Future of Cities, and Urban Density, After the Pandemic

Numerous writers and experts are already examining the question about what happens to ideas about urbanism in a future forever altered by recent events.

March 23 - James Brasuell

Census Workers

FEATURE

2020 Census Adapting Quickly to the Coronavirus Pandemic

Delayed operations and recommendations for how college students should report their living conditions are key to the Census response to COVID-19 so far. The Census is still expected to wrap up by the end of July 2020.

March 19 - James Brasuell

Montgomery County

BLOG POST

How We Got Here

In "A History of Street Networks," Lawrence Aurbach discusses the intellectual movements driving the growth of suburban-style street design.

March 16 - Michael Lewyn

Los Angeles

FEATURE

Reforming Local Development Regulations for Sustainable Megaregions

Managing development at the scale of megaregions is possible. An excerpt from the recently published book, "Designing for the Megaregion: Meeting Urban Challenges at a New Scale," written by Jonathan Barnett, explains how.

March 12 - Jonathan Barnett

U.S. Census Bureau

FEATURE

The Census Faces its Toughest Challenge Yet: Coronavirus

Census 2020 faced funding challenges, leadership changes, and unprecedented politics on its way to a big launch this week. Now the coronavirus is sending people into social isolation, making the process of an accurate count very difficult.

March 11 - James Brasuell

Housing protest

BLOG POST

How Much Does it Cost to Rent an Apartment, Anyway?

Geoff Boeing of the University of Southern California writes about a recent article he co-authored in the Journal of Planning Education and Research.

March 10 - JPER

D.C. Comp Plan

PLANOPEDIA

What Is a Comprehensive Plan?

The comprehensive plan, sometimes also referred to as a master plan or a general plan, is the foundational document of long-term planning and zoning in the United States.

March 9 - James Brasuell

Oktoberfest

BLOG POST

Beloved Businesses Should Not Struggle Silently

The demise of local businesses reached a crisis point long ago. To survive, they must resort to desperate measures—by actually asking for help. If they don't, the urban fabric will suffer.

March 5 - Josh Stephens

Street Food

BLOG POST

The Right to the City: Planners’ Role in Creating Affordable and Inclusive Communities

In a modern, post-industrial society, economic opportunity depends on disadvantaged households’ ability to find suitable housing in an economically successful city. Planners can make that happen.

March 5 - Todd Litman

Super Tuesday 2020

BLOG POST

Super Tuesday Results for Planning and Land Use Votes

Super Tuesday wan't just for presidential primaries: numerous local elections decided the future of land use policy in the largest state in the nation, while Oklahoma City weighed in on planning-related issues as well.

March 4 - James Brasuell

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.

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.

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