Land Use

Coming Soon to Downtown Winnipeg: Surface Parking Lots?

What follows is a cautionary tale of how quickly downtown investment can go astray.

April 4, 2015 - Winnipeg Free Press

Exploring the Unique, Threatened Florida Everglades

Fusion has produced a multi-media exposé on the endangered Florida Everglades.

April 4, 2015 - Fusion

APA's Daniel Burnham Award Goes to Vibrant NEO 2040

The efforts of 12 counties, four big cities, and four metropolitan planning organizations, as well as universities, major foundations, cultural institutions, and some 10,000 residents in Northeast Ohio have been rewarded.

April 3, 2015 - The Plain Dealer

The Station at Potomac Yard

A Mixed-Use Fire Station? Challenging the Limits of Mixed-Use Development

A visual essay exploring the emerging Potomac Yard neighborhood in Alexandria, VA and how one innovative project reinterprets the traditional definition of mixed-use development.

April 3, 2015 - Plan.Place

A Primer on Parklets in San Francisco: Past, Present, Future

The San Francisco Chronicle's urban design critic, John King, knows his San Francisco parklets—from the first ones that started the nationwide urban movement five years ago, to the ones currently in the hopper at the city planning office.

April 2, 2015 - San Francisco Chronicle

Urbanism: Nothing to Fear

Scott Bernstein, president of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, talks planes, trains, and automobiles, in an urban industrial context.

April 2, 2015 - PlaceShakers

Shanghai China

China's Megacities May Soon Rely on Urban Farming

While widespread urban farming remains pipe dream in the United States, dwindling arable land and a mass shift to cities might make it a necessity in China.

March 31, 2015 - designboom

Shopping Mall

Death of the Shopping Mall May Be Exaggerated

Despite threats like online retail, upscale sectors of the mall market are prospering. This is good news for what are, perhaps, the only walkable 'streets' in some parts of the country.

March 31, 2015 - CityLab

Gentrification

Grassroots Activists Take On Evictions, Displacement

On the ground, combating gentrification means putting a stop to cost-driven displacement and evictions. Grassroots organizations in some of the hardest-hit cities have dedicated themselves to that task.

March 31, 2015 - Next City

Casa Torre

Re-Evaluating Pasadena's City of Gardens Ordinance

Practicing urbanist and USC professor Vinayak Bharne examines the legacy of a progressive zoning code over the two decades since its adoption.

March 31, 2015 - Vinayak Bharne

Op-Ed: Time to Take Planning Power Back from Communities

In light of the current housing crisis, argues Stephen Smith, the community-based land use controls created as a response to urban renewal policies of the 20th century should be for forfeited to more development friendly political forces.

March 30, 2015 - New York YIMBY

Chicago El

Congressional Bill to Expedite Transit Oriented Development

Cory Booker has introduced a railroad bill that will, among other things, expand financing for transit-oriented projects near train stations. The new law would also make it easier for TOD developers to apply for federal loans.

March 30, 2015 - Smart Growth America

Billboard pepsi

Op-Ed: Transportation Assets Should Generate Revenue

Scott Rawlins argues that public-private partnerships could help transportation departments turn assets into income streams. Underutilized land and data are two areas of interest.

March 30, 2015 - Governing

Chicago Bikers

Chicago Sources River Ideas from Citizens

The Metropolitan Planning Council of Chicago wants to get in on the recent upswing in crowdsourced planning solutions. They are looking to the public for input on the Chicago river system's future.

March 29, 2015 - The Architect's Newspaper Blog

North view

Urban Farming Gains a Foothold in Houston

Operated by a pair of brothers, Finca Tres Robles is one of several Houston farms coaxing fresh produce from unused urban land. Increasingly, urban farmers compete with developers for space.

March 29, 2015 - OffCite

A Tribute to Donald Shoup: Retiring from UCLA This Summer

Embedded in an article celebrating the career of Donald Shoup, so-called "parking guru" who has had an outsized influence on contemporary planning thanks to the arguments laid out in "The High Cost of Free Parking."

March 27, 2015 - UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

Weisbrod Op-Ed Makes the Case for Proposed Zoning Changes

An op-ed by Carol Weisbrod, chairman of the NYC Planning Commission, makes the case for the de Blasio Administration's zoning policy as the key mechanism in its housing policy.

March 27, 2015 - New York Daily News

San Francisco Waterfront Heights Lawsuit Moves Forward

The lawsuit would not restrict heights—just the opposite. Back in June, San Francisco voters overwhelmingly backed Proposition B to restrict building heights along the waterfront. The State Lands Commission sued.

March 27, 2015 - San Francisco Chroncile

Using Urban Observation to 'Ghost-Bust' Cities

Chuck Wolfe champions urban observation, emphasizing "ghosts" that are important to the authenticity of today's urban change, like oral histories among indigenous peoples passing on cultural traditions from one generation to the next.

March 27, 2015 - The Huffington Post

Small-Scale Apartment

Single-Lot Densification Faces Zoning, Economic Challenges

Small-scale development on single lots is an alternative to the centralized mid-rise norm. But this kind of classic infilling may not be as easy as build-it-and-they-will-come.

March 26, 2015 - Streets.MN

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.