Land Use
Palo Alto Stalls on Controversial Measure to Cap Commercial Development
In some places, it might be hard to imagine even considering a cap on the development of commercial development. Palo Alto, home to Stanford University and a hot bed of California's tech industry, did just that in City Council earlier this week.
Book Review: Zoned in the USA
"Zoned in the USA: The Origins and Implications of American Land-Use Regulation," by Sonja Hirt, describes the exceptional characteristics, compared to European land use regulations, that make U.S. zoning laws so conducive to sprawl.
1954 Report Explains a lot About Parking Requirements, Shopping Centers
Historic planning documents, like those found in the APA's Planning Advisory Service, are full of lessons about how past planning doctrines failed their intentions, and it's always a good time for planners to re-evaluate their antecedents.
Anatomy of an Unsafe Crosswalk
Streetsblog NYC analyses one of the street design standards in place in New York City that will make it impossible to achieve zero pedestrian fatalities under Vision Zero.
How Form-Based Ideas Could Transform Community Planning
Let's discuss how community planning could be fundamentally reorganized to improve both efficiency and placemaking.
Google Reveals Designs for New Headquarters in Mountain View
The design reveal is more than just a showcase for architects Bjarke Ingels and Thomas Heatherwick. The project also raises tough questions about how far suburban cities in the South Bay Area are willing to go to support the current tech boom.
Does America Still Want Sprawl?
Increased awareness of sprawl’s negative effects has not led to a drop-off in its construction. Developers say they only build what the market demands.
How Dense Cities Reap Green Benefits
What they may lack in peace and quiet, crowded cities more than make up for by requiring residents to live smaller. Tangible environmental benefits follow.
Regulating the Little Free Library
The Little Free Library movement is a well-intentioned overture to literate neighborliness. In spite of lacking obvious drawbacks, certain officials argue it should undergo more stringent permitting.
New Website Calls Out Philadelphia's 'Parking Wastelands'
It's unclear who exactly is behind the Philly Parking Wasteland website, but it is clear that the site exists to excoriate the mismanagement of land for the purposes of parking around the city of Philadelphia.
Money, Options Pour into Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis—Are They Any Good?
The long shadow of 20th century urban renewal strategies color the debate over three potential redevelopment proposals for the site of the former site of the Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex on St. Louis' Near North Side.
Q&A: New Orleans Planning is 'Visionary within the Envelope of Feasibility'
The following interview, as published in the 4th Edition of the Planetizen Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs, features Jason Neville, senior planner for the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority.
Here's to the Winners of the Seaside Prize and to 'Attainable Housing'
Housing supply is offering up something that looks very different than what today's households want to buy.
Early Returns for the 'goBerkeley' Market-Pricing Parking Experiment
A three-year pilot program of market-pricing for parking in the university town of Berkeley, California is already revealing surprising realities about parking demand in the city.
Pedestrian Accessibility the Key to Buffalo's New Green Code
An op-ed column for The Buffalo News explains the thinking behind Buffalo's new Green Code—especially its benefits for walking, bicycling, and public transit.
Allowing Higher Density to Fix Slums
Despite its economic dynamism, Mumbai is known for a lack of adequate housing. Citywide increases to maximum Floor Space Indices (i.e., Floor Area Ratios) will increase living space per resident, provided the right redevelopment takes place.
Re-Zoning For Walkability
It often seems that streetscapes' appearances and forms are immutable, but Los Angeles is trying something new. Through a herculean effort called Recode: LA, Los Angeles is rewriting its codes and, consequently, may change how its streets look.
Planning for Housing on Complicated Queens Rail Yard Continues
The 200-acre operational rail yard is the largest of six affordable housing sites that Mayor Bill de Blasio targeted for development. He hopes to build more than 11,000 units of affordable housing there, but Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is not on board.
Are Home Prices in New Urbanist Neighborhoods More Resilient? Evidence from Metro Portland
A new article in the Journal of Planning Education and Research (@JPER7) by Hongwei Dong of California State University, Fresno, asks whether New Urbanist developments were more resilient in terms of recovering from the 2008 real estate crash.
An Argument for the Benefits of Form-Based Codes to Aging Populations
An interview with Joel Russell, executive director of the Form-Based Codes Institute.
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.
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
