Exclusives
BLOG POST
The Best Reasons to Go to Grad School in Planning
As the 2016 admission season winds down, thoughts turn to the 2017 application process. For students considering the idea, there are several good reasons to attend graduate school in 2017, and a few that may cause problems later.
FEATURE
Better Parking, Better Cities
Reformed parking regulations will improve the quality of urban environments. They might even allow to once again construct building types we appreciate only in older cities, but could never imagine building with today’s parking requirements.
BLOG POST
Public Transportation Ridership: Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back?
Recent data showing declining transit ridership is only the latest news to cast doubt on expectations of a public transit renaissance.
BLOG POST
Trends from the APA 2016 Conference
The American Planning Association 2016 National Conference included a wide variety of topics and a significant amount of tweeting. This blog shares the highlights from the conference.
FEATURE
Book Review: From Steel to Slots
Chloe E. Taft explores the transition of Bethlehem, Pa., from Rust Belt company town to gambling mecca.
FEATURE
Let's Talk About Civic Crowdfunding and Government Responsibility
A reply to skeptics about the democratic power and potential of civic crowdfunding platforms.
BLOG POST
A Utopian Solution to NIMBYism and High Housing Costs
The housing shortages caused by restrictive zoning are easy to solve in principle—even if the solutions are politically impossible.
BLOG POST
Scraping Social Media to Analyze Public Engagement
Planners are increasingly using social media for public engagement. How can you analyze what people are saying? NodeXL is an easy to use free tool for scraping and analyzing social media. I use this tool to report from the APA National Conference.
BLOG POST
Is Face to Face Community Engagement Dying Out?
With disruptions at public meetings on the rise and a growing number of online engagement tools to choose from, is face to face community engagement destined to die out? What's at stake if we let that happen?
FEATURE
No Business as Usual in an Autonomous Vehicle Future
Among the reasons to reconsider new investments in expanded roadway capacity: the impending revolution in transportation that will arrive when cars start driving themselves.
BLOG POST
Evaluating Affordable Housing Development Strategies
There are many ways that communities can support and encourage affordable housing development. Let's compare them.
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Sprawl and the Declining City
Sprawl lowers real estate values in cheap, declining cities—but it may also have social costs that aren't as relevant elsewhere.
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About That Shocking Twitter Storm by @SFBART
The word "shocking" above could also have been "depressing," and the word "storm" could have also been "rant." Or it could have been "honest" and "victory." When it comes to transit, everyone sees what they want to see.
FEATURE
Empowered Design, By 'The Crowd'
Crowdsourcing offers a viable resource for planners to empower communities and engage citizens to collectively innovate solutions to complex urban problems.
BLOG POST
New Guide Will Help You Take Action in the Streets
With a grant from the Knight Foundation, Street Plans is creating the "Tactical Urbanist's Guide to Materials and Design" to provide engineer-approved materials guidance for citizen-led demonstration, and city-led pilot and interim design projects.
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What I Learned When an Angry Group Destroyed My Public Meeting
Introducing the Fiasco Files—a lighthearted look at those times when things went sideways in community engagement. This Fiasco File tells the story of an angry and vocal minority group and the havoc the raised at a public meeting.
FEATURE
Bicyclists on Sidewalks: Why They're Not Going Away, and What We Can Do About It
Simply banning bikes from riding on sidewalks does more harm than good. A better understanding of why people choose to ride bikes on the sidewalk will be necessary to create safer environments for all users.
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Unmanned Aircraft Systems—Coming to Your Planning Department Soon
Transformative technologies like unmanned aircraft systems (drones) are identifying and creating new applications in planning every day, for both research and practical applications.
BLOG POST
So Much for Peak VMT
Many observers and planners had hoped 2007 was the peak of vehicle miles travelled in the United States. After record-breaking increases in driving and auto sales, what are we to make of the present and future of driving in the United States?
FEATURE
How One Developer Is Delivering Urban Infill
Doug Bauer, CEO of one of the nation's largest homebuilders, describes the political and design decisions that contributed to the success of urban infill projects in four unique case studies.
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
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.
