Land Use
Opportunities Found for Redesign of Philadelphia's Famed JFK Plaza/LOVE Park
As the redesign for LOVE Park begins, Ashley Hahn reminds us of the park's role in supporting and maintaining civic life in the city of brotherly love.
Los Angeles Embraces Urban Agriculture
A motion passed earlier this month calls for landowners to receive tax breaks for leasing vacant property for agriculture and farming.
Could the Silver Spring Transit Center Get a Park After All?
Developments in a story from earlier in the year—the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is receptive to the ideas of local political leaders for a park near the beleaguered Silver Spring Transit Center.
Student Housing Developments Provoke Down-Zoning in Philadelphia
The Philadelphia City Planning Commission approved a series of bills to implement portions of the Lower North District Plan. Although the bills include downzoning, planners believe the area's vacant land is sufficient to bear new development.

Green Belts Cure Sprawl, Cause Problems
Touted as a solution to mindless suburban expansion, the vast green belts around U.K. cities create new challenges. Among them: less affordable housing, longer commutes, and dubious environmental benefits. What happens if these spaces get developed?

How Often Do Cities Mandate Smart Growth?
A recent Mercatus Institute paper addresses the frequency of minimum density regulations, maximum parking requirements, and similar regulations.
Report Collects and Shares Lessons from New York's Land Banks
Practical lessons and best practices will be helpful in empowering land banks to curb the spread of blight, foreclosures, and abandoned properties.
Big Ideas Drive 'planOKC' Effort in Oklahoma City
One of the country's largest cities has been growing quickly and will continue to grow—how is Oklahoma City planning for the future?
An Evolving Houston Plans for its Future
Houston is preparing for a new wave of population growth by preparing a comprehensive plan. The question is what kind of city Houston wants to be.
The Incredible Climate Mitigation Potential of Compost
Research has shown that the world's largest land use, grazing, holds enormous potential when linked with composting, to dramatically reduce the carbon content of the atmosphere through sequestration while concurrently restoring degraded rangeland.
Transform's New GreenTrip Parking Database
A new database from the Oakland-based Transform group maps and tracks unused parking spaces in multifamily housing developments.

Can Billionaires Revitalize Decayed Downtowns?
Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert has an urbanist streak. And only people with his kind of money can singlehandedly buy out big chunks of downtown Detroit. But will his approach to neighborhood-making actually benefit the city as a whole?
New Jersey Cities Work Together for Waterfront Park on the Hudson River
Linh Tat reports on the opening of a new waterfront park created and maintained by two New Jersey cities: North Bergen and Guttenberg.
Chicago Considers Raising Parking Taxes to Pay for Potholes
In need of 80 additional employees to keep up with the city's pothole repair deficit, Mayor Rah Emanuel is proposing that the city raise taxes parking.
Washington D.C.'s Zoning Code Update Finally Progressing
Washington D.C.'s long deliberated and closely watched zoning code update is moving forward, and supporters of progressive land use regulations have reason to be encouraged.
Profile in Success: Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard
When it comes to public transportation, walkable commercial districts, and supporting the arts, Pasadena has some things figured out.

Friday Funny: The Onion has Been Reading Donald Shoup
The satirical news site The Onion is back with another take on the concerns of planners and transportation engineers. This time The Onion takes a page out of Donald's Shoup playbook.
Exploring the 'Finesse of the Avenue'
In his fourth "place-decoding" essay from France, Chuck Wolfe illustrates how a traditional placemaking intervention is especially powerful when underlying urban fundamentals align.
Study Compares Job Access by Transit in 46 U.S. Metropolitan Areas
The Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota has released the Access Across America: Transit 2014 report.
The 'Redacted Landscape' of the Las Vegas Fringe
Bldg Blog shares news of photographer Michael Light's new book "Black Mountain," which documents the "the construction and large-scale terrestrial formatting of a new housing development called Lake Las Vegas."
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
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Portland
City of Laramie