Exclusives
BLOG POST
Ecocity versus Duplicity
If certain elements of masterplanning are not carefully chosen—and their impacts not carefully explained to final decision makers—then there runs great risk that the cities we design from scratch perform worse than the cities we already have.
BLOG POST
Should Students Be Zoned Out?
Although suburbs with college campuses are often eager to zone out students, this sort of exclusionary zoning has its own negative side effects.
FEATURE
Engage; Don’t Rage: Use a Design Charrette to Negotiate Your Next Development Proposal
Despite the investments required of a design charrette, Robert Freedman makes the case that the process can save time and money on complex projects by way of three primary benefits.
BLOG POST
New Research On Smart Growth Benefits
New research indicates that smart growth helps residents become wealthier and healthier.
BLOG POST
Finding Authenticity
The coveted creative class is in search of neighborhoods and communities with lots of character. Why are such places so hard to find? Maybe it is because we are trying too hard.
BLOG POST
Billboards, Big Money, and (Political) Blight
Planners typically pay attention to the Supreme Court when a Fifth Amendment case, like Kelo v. New London, comes along. The recent McCutcheon decision is a case in which the court could have paid attention to planners.
FEATURE
10 Common Characteristics of Successful Markets
Markets are important commercial and cultural spaces throughout South America, in small villages and big cities. The market landscape in South America is diverse, but thriving markets share a number of common characteristics across the continent.
BLOG POST
Bike Lanes, Maybe, But Let’s 'Lose Yourself to Dance'
Being on the street used to be a dance, but not so since the automobile took over. Is there a way for all modes to coexist through a mutual ethic rather than compete for a street’s right of way?
BLOG POST
A Special Focus on Planning for Healthy Schools
SAGE has provided free access to material from the Journal of Planning Education and Research's focus issue on Healthy Schools.
BLOG POST
3 Reasons We Should Pay Attention to Medellín
Medellín has been called the most innovative city in the world, and recently hosted the World Urban Forum WUF7 to huge acclaim. It has taken back the city's public realm, found simple solutions to complex problems, and emphasized a "City for Life."
BLOG POST
How Not To Measure Housing Affordability
Critics argue that smart growth reduces housing affordability. Their criticisms are partly legitimate and largely wrong, based on incomplete and biased analysis.
BLOG POST
More Thoughts On The Realtors' Survey
In addition to revealing public preferences for single-family homes and walkable communities, a recent survey conducted for the National Association of Realtors contains a variety of other small surprises.
FEATURE
The Original Big Digs
The gridlock in American cities today doesn't compare to the crush on streets in Boston and New York City in the mid- to late-1800s. In The Race Underground, Doug Most chronicles the occasionally synchronous development of the nation’s first subways.
BLOG POST
Trends to Watch in Planetizen’s Top Posts
We post a lot of articles here at Planetizen, and the traffic created by you, our audience, provides valuable feedback about the ideas and places of interest to the planning and urbanism community.
BLOG POST
America's Apartment Shortage: 8 Million Units
The 2014 National Realtor's Survey asked consumers for preferences in housing and neighborhood types. Although preferences trended toward the suburban, the number of people who want to live in urban areas is under-supplied by multi-family housing.
BLOG POST
Old Thinking In New Traffic Safety Reports
A new paradigm is expanding transport safety strategies to include demand management and smart growth, but the old paradigm is alive and deadly as illustrated by two new traffic safety guidance documents.
FEATURE
Housing is the Key to Family-Friendly Cities
Why housing should take priority in the effort to attract families back to the city (and welcome them to stay awhile).
BLOG POST
Architecture + Urbanism: Both/And, Not Either/Or
Looking at the trend toward interdisciplinary design practice through the work of WXY Architecture + Urban Design.
BLOG POST
Transit Ridership—Debunking the Debunkers (Sort Of)
In response to the news that transit ridership reached an all-time high in 2013, commentators of all stripes sought to deny or minimize the news. But such arguments are themselves flawed.
FEATURE
Transit + Technology: Revitalizing Public Transportation for Smarter Communities
Neil Roberts shares details of Melbourne's Yarra Trams, which has exceeded its service delivery and punctuality goals by the use of intelligent transit technology like sensors, the tramTRACKER app, and mobile work stations for employees.
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.
