Exclusives
FEATURE
Inside the Initiative to Protect Lake George by Reducing Road Salt
Ten years after launching a plan to cut salt pollution, Lake George is seeing results, and the model is spreading across the country and beyond.
BLOG POST
December Must-Reads: Top 10 Articles From Last Month
As cities and states change zoning laws to accommodate more housing, federal funding cuts and immigration raids that are impacting the construction labor market could slow efforts to alleviate the housing crisis.
BLOG POST
Public Sector Consulting Isn’t Evil, but We Have to Keep it Honest
At its best, public sector consulting builds knowledge and delivers value for taxpayers. At its worst, it entrenches dependence and wastes resources. A code of ethics for keeping consulting ethical.
FEATURE
Great Cities Don’t Just Acknowledge That We Age In Them — They Build For It. We Can Too.
We age in sidewalks, public spaces, transit stops, and community centers — not in hospitals. As populations age, the built environment will determine whether our cities thrive or struggle in the decades ahead.
FEATURE
String Lights are Secular! The Holiday Case for Year-round Placemaking
The holidays make streets and spaces warm, cozy, and welcoming. Why don’t we do that year round?
FEATURE
Top 10 Island Press Built Environment Books
From “Life Between Buildings” to “Human Transit,” Island Press has played a critical role in building the catalogue of literature that is foundational to urban planning.
FEATURE
From SoHo to SoDoSoPa
How zoning made great neighborhoods illegal to build, and preordained gentrification.
FEATURE
How Strip Malls Replaced Midtowns
“The great American roadside” to some, “vulgar and desecrating” to others, “parkitecture” is a truly American phenomenon. And it comes at a cost.
FEATURE
San Diego’s Car-centered Planning is Killing Children
Like most American cities, San Diego’s planning choices hold a gruesome legacy. Why are we okay with that?
BLOG POST
Land Use: Chasing Utopia, 2025?
History has taught us the risks of undervaluing the power of planning decisions. Overvaluing them might be just as dangerous.
BLOG POST
It's a Bus! It's a Van! It's… Microtransit?
Microtransit is in vogue. Cultivating a strong understanding for what it can and can't do will help prevent you from getting rizzed up by this charismatic mode of transportation.
FEATURE
Who Wants to Play SimParkingLot?
The original urban planning game wanted to model real life cities. One grim reality of American urbanism held it back.
FEATURE
San Francisco is out of Land. Amidst Rising Seas, is it Time to Create More?
Creating new land from the sea gets a bad rap. Done responsibly, it can be a climate adaptation strategy, not a real estate play.
BLOG POST
November Must-Reads: Top 10 Articles From Last Month
November’s headlines address the housing crisis, highlighting zoning reform, affordable housing, and a first-in-the-nation law tying minimum wage to rent and housing costs.
FEATURE
Sulfur-based Batteries Could Offer Electric Vehicles a Greener, Longer-range Option
EV batteries are an environmental and human rights disaster. What many don't know? Another option exists.
BLOG POST
The Dos and Don’ts of Using AI in Community Engagement for Urban Planners
AI promises more engagement more efficiently and, finally, a solution to those empty consultation rooms. The reality is a little more nuanced.
FEATURE
Planetizen’s Top Urban Planning Books of 2025
How thoughtful deregulation could unlock a housing and infrastructure boom, the social histories that lie behind a globalizing economy, and the growing role of artificial intelligence in planning.
FEATURE
YMCA: The Swan Song of SROs and the Birth of Modern Homelessness
The demise of our last mass stock of affordable market housing left us no place to go when we’re short on our dough. How will we rebuild last resort housing?
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.
