Land Use

potable water fire hydrant

Water Resilience in Dry Climates

How can cities in dry climates become self-sufficient in terms of water? California based Dry Lands Institute is creating a digital design tool called Hazel that aims to address just that.

December 9, 2015 - Doggerel

Oakland skyline and San Francisco Bay

Have We Got a Game for You: 'Bay Area Regional Planner'

Some people like to leave their work at the office. But maybe you're the kind of planner who likes to turn the largest challenges of the profession into a game to be enjoyed in your free time.

December 9, 2015 - Curbed SF

Barbican Flats, London, UK

Balancing the Need for Housing Supply with Need for Office Space

London is the stage for one of the problems that arises when encountered with a dearth of accommodations for housing and offices.

December 9, 2015 - Centre for Cities

Public Meeting Speaker

Planners Need To Be Less Polite Sometimes

It's one thing to oppose development and rail against local planning policies. Plenty of policies, plans, and political processes are pretty lousy. It's another thing to disrupt and dominate a meeting designed to make these processes better.

December 9, 2015 - California Planning & Development Report

Fix Housing Supply, Save the City: Is it Really That Easy?

Planning wonks might have felt all warm inside when they noticed zoning topics wedging their way into broader conversations about community affordability and equity. Bring it on. Finally.

December 8, 2015 - PlaceShakers

Anchorage Changes Policies for Cell Towers in Neighborhoods

Draft regulations under consideration in Anchorage "would prohibit building large cellphone towers next to homes in dense urban settings."

December 8, 2015 - Alaska Dispatch News

Famous Mexico City traffic

Gondola Monorail Could Ease Mexico City Traffic

Mexico City is considering a novel transit idea: two-person gondolas gliding along an aerial track. The costs of such a system may be far lower than extending the subway system.

December 5, 2015 - Quartz

Wild Horses BLM

Ranchers and Activists Face Off Over Wild Horses

Tens of thousands of wild horses still inhabit the western states. The Bureau of Land Management is caught between two camps: ranchers who want them contained and advocates who want them to roam free.

December 5, 2015 - Pacific Standard

Damage Control for New York's Big Zoning Proposals

One of the nation's most ambitious efforts to upzone neighborhoods in the hope of spurring more market rate and affordable housing supply is up for debate in New York City. A lot of people don't like the plan.

December 5, 2015 - Politico New York

Too Many Cities Relying on 'Plan and Forget' Climate Adaptation Strategies

A highly critical article suggests that the experts drafting climate adaptation plans should re-evaluate their assumptions about what works and what is likely to collect dust on a shelf as the sea rises.

December 4, 2015 - The Conversation

Empty Parking Garage

The Citizen Kane of Parking Cartoons

The City of Ottawa (Canada) has produced an animated video to engage the public as it goes about reviewing its minimum parking standards, some of which date back to the 1960s.

December 4, 2015 - City of Ottawa

Coming Soon to Detroit: An Urban Livestock Ordinance

Planners and citizens in Detroit are wrapping up a year's worth of research and community engagement before drafting an urban livestock ordinance.

December 3, 2015 - The Detroit News

Atlanta

Atlanta Has Plans to Lead the New South

The latest installment of the Planners Across America series interviews Charletta Wilson-Jacks, director of the Atlanta Office of Planning, who focused on new strategies to engage community members in the city's planning efforts.

December 3, 2015 - Josh Stephens

Neighborhood Planning for Investment, Protections from Gentrification

The neighborhood of Homewood in Pittsburgh, PA is poised is poised for new investment but is still far from a gentrification tipping point. A proposed "cluster plan" walks a fine line for the neighborhood's future.

December 1, 2015 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

jersey-city-parking-lot-3

Plenty of Parking to Be Found on the Biggest Shopping Day of the Year

Strong Towns completes another year of its critique of parking policies, brought to retail districts all over the country on the biggest shopping day of the year: Black Friday.

December 1, 2015 - Strong Towns

Stahl House Los Angeles

Krugman Argues the Supply Side to Combat Urban Inequality

Paul Krugman, one of the most influential voices of liberal policy in the United States, has identified a culprit in the U.S. affordability crisis: over-regulation.

November 30, 2015 - The New York Times

Philadelphia Skyline

Philadelphia Pushes Ahead with Changes to Zoning Code

Updates to Philadelphia’s zoning code are designed to "clean-up" the code, adopted in 2011.

November 30, 2015 - Plan Philly

New Oil and Gas Drilling Rules Proving Thorny in Colorado

A goal for the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to have established new rules for oil and gas drilling is looking less likely with each fruitless hearing.

November 25, 2015 - The Denver Post

Parking Sign

Mapping the End of Parking Minimums

The high cost of free parking is almost, but not quite, common knowledge. Many, but not all, people realize the pernicious effects of parking requirements. A map can help illustrate this spreading awareness.

November 25, 2015 - Strong Towns

APA Awards Funding to Local Projects Combating Chronic Disease

$2.25 million in funding exemplifies the broadening focus of the American Planning Association on public health outcomes at the local level.

November 25, 2015 - American Planning Association

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.

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.