Exclusives
FEATURE
Why Climate Resilience Stalls — and how to fix it
When it comes to preparing cities for the disastrous impacts of climate catastrophes, there is a gaping chasm between ambition and implementation. Here’s what we’ve learned from spending our days trying to close it.
BLOG POST
Everything you Need to Know from the APA’s 2026 Trend Report for Planners
Plus, a conversation with the APA’s Chief Foresight and Knowledge Officer, Petra Hurtado.
FEATURE
War and Place: The Iran you Don't see in the News
The world is watching Iran right now through the narrow lens of conflict. When governments see the world through a target reticle, smoke fills the frame — and the places people actually live get ignored.
BLOG POST
Getting Started with AI: A Practical Guide for Urban Planners
Planetizen’s resident AI and planning expert answers the number one question he gets asked: where do I begin?
BLOG POST
Transit Scheduling 101: Building A Timetable ⌛
How to build a timetable without the need for specialized scheduling software in this installment of Transit Scheduling 101!
BLOG POST
Red Cities, Blue Cities and (Property) Crime: A Sequel
Like urban violent crime, urban property crime is often a political football. Republicans claim that crime in Democrat-run cities is proof that Democrats are incapable of maintaining public order. Do they have a point?
FEATURE
Gateway, and the Dawn of the “Trump-Proof” Infrastructure Era
Though disaster has been averted for now, by reneging on critical infrastructure commitments, the administration has set a “dangerous national precedent.”
BLOG POST
Trump’s Totalitarian Vision for the Future of Gaza
The Trump Administration has put forth its plan for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. It is a totalitarian nightmare.
BLOG POST
The Bittersweet Path to the Housing Crisis — and how to Find our way Home
Book Review: In “Bittersweet Lane: Creating Home(s) in the American Affordable Housing Crisis,” affordable housing developer Jamie Madden blends memoir with a manifesto for a new era of affordable housing in America.
BLOG POST
Traffic Fatalities are Going Down. What Happens Next Matters.
Amidst a spate of rare good news, cities are pulling investments from their Vision Zero commitments. They’re getting it all wrong.
BLOG POST
A Love Letter to the Articulated Bus
An ode to the bendy boys, by far the wackiest of the specialized vehicles you might find at a transit authority.
FEATURE
Eight Sci-Fi Books That Teach Urbanists the Dos and Don’ts of the Future
Science fiction has long painted a picture of the city of the future. What if it’s our roadmap out of dystopia?
BLOG POST
February Must-Reads: Top 10 Articles From Last Month
Transit agencies like BART and TriMet face lingering budget shortfalls, forcing major service cuts and layoffs, while federal plans to ban fare-free transit throw a wrench in NYC Mayor Mamdani’s proposal to make the city’s buses ‘fast and free.’
FEATURE
In Defense of QUIMBY — a Rebuttal
Psychology shows that residents love what planners and architects don’t. Experience tells me that they’re right.
BLOG POST
Review: Why Nothing Works
In “Why Nothing Works,” Marc Dunkelman argues that America’s political gridlock stems from an internal progressive conflict between Hamiltonian centralized efficiency and Jeffersonian individualized safeguards.
BLOG POST
What the Data Center Boom Means for Planners
It’s tempting to write off the havoc that data centers are wreaking in communities across the country as an IT problem. The truth? It’s a planning problem.
BLOG POST
Transit Scheduling 101: Never Cheat the Layover!
Letting drivers take their bathroom break keeps buses running on time, prevents burnout, and might even save the world from tech-fueled social entropy. Why risk it?!
FEATURE
The Parking Lot Maternity Leave
New parenthood is the stress test of suburbia. I’ve learned the hard way just how spectacularly it fails.
BLOG POST
In Defense of Car-light Planning
By framing car-free as the only way forward, we have made the perfect the enemy of the good. It’s time we emphasize — and promote — small progress.
BLOG POST
Dear Trump: the Future Belongs to the Efficient
Trump abandoned climate protection goals claiming that cheap fossil fuel helps consumers and the economy. A mobility-focused analysis shows that he is wrong: resource efficiency is the key to health, economic success and happiness.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
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.
