Landscape Architecture

Places Journal Launches New Tool for Public Scholarship

Places Journal has just launched Reading Lists: a new, interactive tool that enables readers to create and share topical lists of articles, books, and other media from diverse sources.

March 13, 2015 - Places Journal

Cleveland Commences James Corner-Designed Remodel of the Public Square

A sweeping remodel of Cleveland's Public Square (designed by James Corner Field Operations) will begin construction later this month, to be complete in time for the 2016 Republican National Convention.

March 4, 2015 - The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Disney Imagineers' Next Big Thing: 'Avatar' Theme Park in Orlando

The world of Pandora, created by James Cameron for the blockbuster film Avatar, will be the next addition to Disney's Animal Kingdom park in Orlando, Florida.

February 28, 2015 - Variety

The Value of More Creative Play Areas for Children

As free-range children become an increasingly rare species, designers and psychologist are also questioning the effects of the sterile, innocuous playgrounds currently in fashion. How can play, and kids, get liberated again?

February 27, 2015 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Shared Street

Naked is Better! On the Many Benefits of Shared Streets

Experiments with shared (also called "naked") streets in Auckland, New Zealand show that mixing motorized and non-motorized modes can be safe, friendly, and economically successful.

February 26, 2015 - Shared Spaces Website

Big Ecology in an Era of Thinking Small

Can the environmental challenges of our times be addressed incrementally? Here are four strategies for creating change inspired by landscape architecture.

February 19, 2015 - Plan.Place

Austin Race map

Does New Urbanism Have a Racial Problem?

In two parts, NPR's City Project examines Austin's premier mixed-use urban village built on the 700-acre site of the former Robert Mueller Municipal Airport which relocated in 1999. Part 2 is about racial tensions that have surfaced in the community.

February 16, 2015 - NPR

San Francisco Skyline

Making Public Spaces Actually Public

Developers get a lot of milage from building privately owned public spaces—but the public often doesn't. Planners in San Francisco are now requiring buildings to make hidden POPS known, so that the public can actually use them.

February 13, 2015 - San Francisco Chronicle

Greenprint 2015/2040 Plan Calls for 500 Miles of Greenways in the Memphis Region

A regional coalition has spent three years planning a network of greenspaces that will span in the Tri-State area surrounding Memphis, Tennessee. The Greenprint 2015/2040 plan was released to the public last week.

February 11, 2015 - Memphis Business Journal

Parks—or Playgrounds for Billionaires?

New York may be the most famous example of the parks becoming the most conspicuous signifiers of neighborhoods for the haves, versus the have-nots, but Inga Saffron hopes that cities everywhere can find ways to even the playing fields.

February 4, 2015 - The New Republic

On the Professional Benefits of Tactical Urbanism

An installment from Spacing's "Cities for People" series makes the case for tactical urbanism as a supplement to professional practice.

January 29, 2015 - Spacing

San Francisco's Presidio Celebrated for Bridging Nature and Culture

The Presidio is, and will remain, a source of San Francisco's most contentious planning and design proposals. But the reason for the controversy isn't all bad, according to John King: "everyone sees their own potential paradise."

January 29, 2015 - San Francisco Chronicle

Private Planning Effort Spearheads Los Angeles River Bike Path Proposal

Looking for a way to connect the separate pieces of the bike path along the Los Angeles River, a local developer took planning and designing a new path into his own hands.

January 26, 2015 - The Architect's Newspaper

Community Gardens are Collateral Damage in New York's Affordable Housing Plans

Here's a head scratcher: in its ambition to meet the affordable housing goals of Mayor Bill de Blasio, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development has proposed the redevelopment of 15 community gardens on city-owned property.

January 24, 2015 - Brownstoner

Land Swap could Bring Obama Presidential Library to Chicago's South Side

Chicago is putting the pieces in place to land the Obama Library. One proposal hinges on the availability of parkland on the South Side near the University of Chicago.

January 22, 2015 - Chicago Tribune

Raleigh Park

Big Park, Great City?

The urban landscape has become increasingly important for cities striving to be taken seriously on the world stage. And while creating big parks is an obvious trend, getting the small moves right can be just as important.

January 20, 2015 - Mark Hough

Mega Cavern Bike Park

Behold the World's First Underground Bike Park

A massive bike park in Louisville, Kentucky takes the fast-growing trend of urban bike parks to new (subterranean) levels.

January 20, 2015 - Outside

How to Turn Boring Utility Boxes into Public Art

Cities around the country have been making it easier to decorate mundane utility boxes into something more colorful and representative of the neighborhoods they serve.

January 19, 2015 - MinnPost

'Urban Yoga' Reveals the Human Element in Cities

"The Urban Yoga Photo Book" is a new, Kickstarter-funded photo book that blends the beauty and grace of yoga with the grit and structure of urban settings.

January 16, 2015 - Urbanful

Pitching a Pop-Up Beer Garden for the Giants' Waterfront Ballpark

The San Francisco Giants are proposing a clever scheme to activate the space in one of its ballpark adjacent parking lots. The Yard, as it's called, could be ready by Spring Training.

January 15, 2015 - San Francisco Chronicle

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.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.