Land Use

San Diego Controversy Exhibits Disconnect Between Citizen Advisors and Planning Staff
A community plan update and a development proposal have led to hurt feelings and flared tempers in San Diego.

Winner of the 2017 Parking Madness Tournament Announced
It's every Shoupista's favorite day of the year.

How Apple's Headquarters Got More Parking Spaces Than Employee Spaces
Parking is back in the news, with a high-profile case study: the new spaceship-shaped headquarters of Apple in Cupertino has devoted a larger footprint to parking spaces than office space.

Is Payless ShoeSource Bankruptcy a Sign of the Coming 'Retail Apocalypse'?
The latest Chapter 11 in a familiar story.

Friday Fun: An Interactive Tool That Explains Floor Area Ratio
The Center for Urban Pedagogy's latest tool provides an easy and fun way to explain a difficult but critical concept: floor area ratio.

Cleveland Considering Options for Derelict Lakefront Power Plant
A planning consultant hired by FirstEnergy is putting out the first speculative ideas for the future of a contaminated lakefront site of a most demolished power plant.

Leading San Francisco Architect Picks a Fight With the City's Planning Department
Architects and planners have to work together, as everyone on both sides of the equation knows. Even though the fields often speak the same language, there still seem to be many moments and ideas lost in translation.

Removing California's Costa-Hawkins Act and the Future of Rent Control
In an attempt to combat prohibitively high housing costs in California, some look to repeal the 1995 state law that limits the power of local rent control ordinances. However, removing those restrictions would likely exaggerate current problems.

Critiquing the First Woonerf in Minneapolis
You be the judge: is this innovative land use in Downtown Minneapolis a woonerf or a glorified parking lot?

Philadelphia's Freeway Cap Park Almost Fully Funded, Ready to Start Planning
March was a momentous month for the Central Access Philadelphia (CAP) project. The project would build cap over I-95 at Penn's Landing, among other improvements.

How About Walkable 'Small Town-ism?'
With the high cost of land and housing in most major cities, why don't we just make the hundreds of "walkable" small towns in the United States more desirable places to live for average earners?

Sent A Strong Message, Los Angeles Leaders Respond With Planning Reforms
In the aftermath of the Measure S vote, members of the Los Angeles City Council have responded by pushing for expediting community plan updates and finding a sustainable source of funding for updating the region's plans.
L.A.'s New Planning Framework Starts Now
After the defeat of Measure S, Los Angeles Planning Director Vince Bertoni explains how a slew of new planning reforms will help move the city forward.

Restore Old Affordable Homes, Or Build Anew?
Fighting a plan to develop new affordable housing, some residents of Apalachicola, Florida prefer an effort to restore the town's dilapidated, though historic, housing stock.

L.A.'s Complicated Dance Between TOD and Displacement
As the Los Angeles metro area expands its transit options, transit-oriented development is following suit. In some neighborhoods, lower-income residents are being displaced.

Surveying Developers for Answers to New York City's Housing Crunch
Developers have a lot of opinions about how to fix New York's housing market (probably not a surprise) and not all of them consider themselves to be evil (maybe a little bit of a surprise).

FresYes: How Fresno Fueled and Funded a Comeback
Recently termed-out Mayor Ashley Swearengin sits down for an exclusive interview about how she planned for high speed rail investments, championed sustainable water management, and took steps to rebuild the local economy.

Op-Ed: Lift Garment District Zoning Restrictions
Greg David argues that zoning rules limiting Manhattan's Garment District to manufacturers are obsolete. Without them, underutilized space could be put to better use.

San Francisco's 'Green Connections Plan' Prioritizes Wildlife
An article and video by Chicago PBS station WTTW explore San Francisco's uniquely ambitious approach to sharing the city with wildlife.

Coastal Erosion Could Devastate Southern California Beaches
Researchers from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have produced a model of coastal erosion based on the impacts of expected sea level rise by the end of the century.
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.
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