Exclusives
BLOG POST
August’s Must-Reads: Top 10 Articles from Last Month
Redlining maps, ADU legislation, Project 2025, and more — catch up on Planetizen’s most popular headlines from August.
FEATURE
Transportation Rx: Treating Traffic Glut Like Doctors Treat Sinus Congestion
To cure chronic traffic congestion, U.S. cities should consider a prescribed treatment approach, using technology and road pricing strategies to target the root cause instead of just managing the symptoms.
BLOG POST
Leveraging AI Chatbots to Enhance Citizen Engagement in City Services
Discover how AI chatbots can transform citizen engagement in city services, offering 24/7 interaction capabilities, streamlining service requests, and gathering valuable feedback to improve urban management.
FEATURE
Designing a "Runnable" City
Planners often focus on walkability and bicycle-friendly cities, which is great to promote active transport. But how do we design a "runnable" city as well?
FEATURE
Lack of Eviction Data Obscures Extent of Affordable Housing Crisis
Court records on eviction filings vary widely and don’t include the outcome and miss informal actions. Without this data, officials don't have a clear picture of displacement of low-income renters and its effect on housing stability.
FEATURE
Designing Cooler Cities: Lessons from Ancient Civilizations
Ancient Rome had ways to counter the urban heat island effect. As climate change raises global temperatures, can urban planners and designers apply any of those lessons to cities today?
FEATURE
Could Permeable Pavement Ease Flooding in New York City?
It can’t help cities control the weather, but by slowing the flow of stormwater, permeable pavement can lessen flooding from big storms.
FEATURE
Book Excerpt: Rochester, New York’s Forgotten Subway
Did you know Rochester, New York, once had a subway? This book excerpt tells the story, complete with a custom map, of the only city in the world to build a subway and then close it.
BLOG POST
Pedestrian-Friendly Cities: The Impact of Walkability Grants
Explore how walkability grants are transforming cities into pedestrian-friendly environments, enhancing urban livability, boosting local economies, and improving public health.
FEATURE
ADUs as Condos: What Does it Mean for Homeownership?
A California law that allows the sale of ADUs as condos may soon make homeownership more attainable.
BLOG POST
Valuing Ounces of Prevention
Planning decisions often involve trade-offs between short-term prevention costs and larger future savings and benefits. Planners can help communities determine what best reflects their priorities.
BLOG POST
The Role of Schools in Fostering Vibrant and Inclusive Communities
Discover how schools play a crucial role in community development by fostering inclusivity, enhancing local engagement, and serving as hubs for social and cultural activities.
FEATURE
Book Review: Killed By A Traffic Engineer
In a new book, engineering professor Wes Marshall explains why American roads are so unsafe.
FEATURE
Good As New: The Vital Role of Preservation in Solving the Housing Crisis
Preserving historic buildings and existing affordable housing stock has the potential to ease America’s dire affordable housing crisis and promote equity, inclusion, and justice.
BLOG POST
Planners be Nimble, Planners be Quick
Planning should be methodical and responsive to community needs, but not to the point of inefficiency. Too much planning can be just as harmful as too little.
FEATURE
Protecting Vulnerable Older Adults From Extreme Heat
People over 65 are at particular risk during heat waves and other climate disasters.
BLOG POST
Balancing Act: 7 Strategies to Curb Overtourism
What’s a popular travel destination to do? From ice cream bans to “Stay Away” marketing campaigns, cities and countries across the world are getting creative in their efforts to curb the negative impacts of mass tourism and tourists behaving badly.
BLOG POST
Project 2025 and Housing Policy
The Heritage Foundation has issued Project 2025, a list of policy proposals for the next Republican administration. On housing, it seems to embody a range of perspectives.
FEATURE
Mass Transit and Manure: New York’s Lost Era of Horse-Drawn Streetcars
For all the problems we have with today's mass transit system, at least we no longer have to deal with the smell and literal waste of the modern bus and light rail systems' predecessors: horse-drawn streetcars.
BLOG POST
July’s Must Reads: Top 10 Articles from Last Month
In case you missed them, here were the biggest urban planning news items, features, and blogs from last month, including 15 new Amtrak routes, Florida’s EV law, California’s rail update, fare-free buses in Tucson, and more.
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
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.
