History / Preservation

New Houston Housing Report Tells a Story of Under-Investment
A new report from the Kinder Institute for Urban Research highlights the state of housing the Houston and Harris County, and more specifically, the historically Black neighborhood of Settegast in northeast Houston.
Murder, Redlining, and the Fight for Jamaica Plain
In “Redlined: A Novel of Boston” by Richard W. Wise, an organizer's murder in 1970s Jamaica Plain exposes an epic battle over the future of American cities.
Frances Goldin—Revolutionary, Organizer, Visionary—Joins the Ancestors at Age 95
Frances Goldin influenced a generation of housing organizers. Her vision was of a multiracial, multiethnic community based on the principles of justice. Her instruction to us was to fight for it.

Our World Accelerated: Analyzing the Impacts
During the last 120 years, our mobility increased by an order of magnitude, but so did associated costs. Are we better off? Could we do better?

The Renewed Challenge: Sustaining a City's Culture and Character
From the outset, defining the culture and character of a city is a daunting task, especially when the city around you disappears.

Richmond 300 Plan Update Includes New Cap Park, Form-Based Code
Richmond, Virginia is hoping to make some big changes in time for its tricentennial in 2037, including a new cap park and a new form-based code.

Anti-Racist Planning: A View from Elsewhere
Developing anti-racist approaches to urban planning requires looking elsewhere—to other geographies and histories—for alternative urban imaginaries and practices.

Watch: How Soviet Planners Created a Different Kind of City
The latest video from City Beautiful looks at the legacy of planning from the Soviet Union.

Interstate 94's Legacy of Racial Injustice in the Twin Cities
The symbolism behind highway protests brings demonstrators to occupy Interstate 94 between St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Interstate 45 Realignment Would Cut Through a Historic Black Neighborhood in Houston
A plan to realign Interstate 45 in Houston has been criticized as a highway boondoggle as well as a failure of racial and social equity, and recent protests have only amplified the latter criticisms of the project.

A 21st Century Planning Case Study: Buffalo, New York
Frederick Law Olmsted called Buffalo the best planned city in the United States, but in the second half of the 20th century it transitioned into a prototypical "Rust Belt" city.

Second Wave or Second Peak?
The terminology of the coronavirus pandemic isn't applied consistently, particularly when dealing with areas seeing a resurgence of infection after states have relaxed social distancing restrictions. The World Health Organization added some clarity.
In Planning, Reality Can Be Worse Than Fiction
The Showtime Series Penny Dreadful portrays a bleak vision of 1940s Los Angeles. But, unencumbered by regulations and zoning laws, it also displays what great urban neighborhoods can look like.

Housing Costs More Than a Matter of Supply and Demand
Does new market rate housing increase the average cost of housing, by inducing demand, or does it help stabilize the housing market by offering new supply? The debate continues in San Francisco.

Design in the Time of Cholera: How Pandemics Reshaped the Built Environment
Some of the most beloved public parks and essential advances in public sanitation can be traced back to their roots in the Cholera outbreaks in the 1800s.

Social Distancing Is Not a Novel Concept
Initial research on social isolation as a method to combat contagious disease included a high-school science fair project modeling social networks. Doctors learned that the spread of disease could be decelerated by disrupting these networks.

Report: Expect to Live with Two More Years of Social Distancing
As a majority of states relax stay-at-home restrictions, a prestigious team of experts from the University of Minnesota, Harvard and Tulane universities warns that the coronavirus will likely last 18 to 24 more months, returning in successive waves.

Nostalgia for Detroit's Public Transit History
Five historic projects encapsulate a transit-oriented version of Southeastern Michigan that almost could have been.
Communicative Arts Academy: Rebuilding Compton for Artists and Community Life
In the 1960s-70s, a group of artists called the Compton Communicative Arts Academy renovated buildings across Compton and transformed vernacular, underutilized structures into venues for and objects of art.

How the Post-Pandemic Future Could Resemble the Pre-Pandemic Future
Response to coronavirus challenges in urban settings will likely be a continuity of work started decades ago.
Pagination
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.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions