Land Use
Oakland Eases Restrictions on Secondary Housing Units
Following the recent example of cities like Vancouver, Austin, and Berkeley, Oakland, CA recently made it much easier for residents to create secondary units, also known as accessory dwelling units.
Congress Increases Allotment for the Land and Water Conservation Fund
The funding allotment for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) included in the Omnibus spending bill marked a substantial increase over previous years.
Pave Paradise and Put Up a 16-Mile Parking Lot—An Inventory of L.A. County Parking
A new study quantifies the amount of space devoted to parking in Los Angeles County—a figure that just begs to be visualized.
Marijuana Manufacturing Sets Up Shop in Denver's Communities of Color
Advocates are concerned that too many of Denver's new retail marijuana business are locating in neighborhoods with mostly minority and low-income residents.

Ranking Cities By Infill Developments
A list of the cities doing the most to build infill development, courtesy of Infill Score.
Checking In on the Buffalo Green Code
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown provides insight into one of the nation's most significant planning efforts.

Walkable Winter Cities: Feasibility While Freezing
"It's too cold to walk here" is often the response to the subject of livability in northern climes. Hazel Borys hails from the third coldest city of its size on earth and talks walkable winter cities.
Change of Leadership for Los Angeles' Planning Department
Mayor Eric Garcetti has nominated Vince Bertoni to lead the Los Angeles Department of City Planning. Bertoni is currently the planning director of the city of Pasadena.
Study: Local land Use Regulations Segregate Metropolitan Areas
A new study reveals new understanding about how restrictive land use regulations in urban areas affect economic segregation across metropolitan areas.

The Ideological War Against Urban Planning
The anti-planning debate may have quieted down, but it hasn't disappeared. Anti-Agenda 21 activists have merely spread out, into the politics of cities and counties planning for the future.

Clash Over Garden City Apartments in Los Angeles
The Wyvernwood Garden Apartments, a large-scale low-rise development opened in 1939, are at the center of a preservation debate. Lauren Walser gives us the case for keeping them.

Chicago Universities Commit to Bolstering Growth
Eight Chicago universities have agreed to engage with the city and local communities as they invest in their neighborhoods. The hope is to increase opportunities for employment and economic growth.

Report: Office Parks Increasingly Obsolete
According to a report prepared by commercial real estate firm Newmark, Grubb, Knight and Frank (NGKF), the office park model has lost the competitive edge. That is, unless it provides access to transit and urban amenities as well as parking.
Parking Spaces Reduced in Center City Philadelphia—Along With Parking Occupancy
Philadelphia is providing a living case study of the tenants of the Donald Shoup-approach to parking.

Top Planning Trends of 2015
Pulling a few threads to unravel some of the biggest planning stories of the year.
CEQA Abuse 'Choking' Good Development, Study Finds
A study of CEQA litigation revealed widespread abuse that experts say undermines California's environmental sustainability goals.

A National Consensus on Zoning? Not So Fast
The issue of zoning might be a place for wonks of both the conservatives and the liberal variety to find middle ground, but zoning in the real world is more contentious than consensus.

Portland Updating Regulations for Infill in Single-Family Residential Neighborhoods
Portland is tackling a critical but often controversial issue: how to regulate infill development in residential neighborhoods when growth is pushing landowners and developers to build bigger and denser.

Remix Promises to Streamline Transit Planning
Based out of San Francisco, Remix is an intuitive, data-rich tool for transit planners as they consider new routes. All you need to do is draw out the line on a map and add stops.
Anchorage Considers Densification
In a city of sprawling surface parking, increased density may help close a serious affordable housing gap as Anchorage, Alaska, seeks ways to make development more affordable.
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.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie