Land Use
San Francisco Initiative a Setback for Progressive Parking Policy
San Francisco's voters are continuing their trend of deciding complex and difficult planning issues at the ballot box. Last time it was height restrictions—this time it's parking.
Now Available: Federal Grant Funding for Transit Oriented Development
The FTA has announced new funding (albeit, a small amount) through the "Transit-Oriented Development Planning Pilot Program."
Study: Residents Living Near Fracking Suffer Negative Health Impacts
Self-reported respiratory problems and skin irritations were significantly greater for those living near natural gas fracking wells in southwestern Pennsylvania than those living more than two kilometers away, according to a Yale University survey.
On the Value of Small Spaces in Remaking the Public Realm
San Francisco Chronicle Architecture Critic John King reviews, and celebrates, the recent string of small projects that reclaim public space in the city, calling them "modest works of true ambition."
Golf Joins Agriculture to Oppose EPA's Proposed 'Water of the United States' Rule
Laura Barron-Lopez reports on the golf industry's reaction to proposed rules that would expand and clarify the regulatory powers of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers.
Lessons Learned from Decades of California Planning
Since the 1980s, California has been both a beacon of cutting-edge urban policy and an example of the ways planning can go awry.
You’ve Got Lemons: What Now?
A timeless marker of community has emerged as a source of conflict: the lemonade stand is being called an "illegal business." Scott Doyon discusses how getting to know — and support! — your neighbor can be an issue of survival.
6 Tips for Good Design in Your Town
Good design impacts tourism, jobs, property values and quality of life. What can we do to bring good design to small towns and rural communities? Here are a few good tips and inspiring examples.
How the West Won—Nature and Cities, Side by Side
The New York Times Opinion Pages present a new narrative for the American West: "A wounded piece of land can be made whole, if managed for the future by people whose capacity for wonder is limitless."
Learning to 'Place-Decode' the Elements of Urbanism
Chuck Wolfe champions the role of France's attachment to place as a laboratory for decoding the essential elements of urbanism.
Euro-Envy Reconsidered: Talkin' Time, Distance, and Change
Most North American urbanists turn to Europe for inspiration and direction. Some of that brilliance, Ben Brown reminds us, is due to time and distance.
Government Reform Proposed for Better Planning in Philadelphia
Geoff Kees Thompson digs into one component of this old city's proposed mayoral platform for Philadelphia: the need to organize the city's alphabet soup of planning agencies under one director and give the Planning Commission teeth.
MassDOT Looks to Repurpose Freeway Underpasses
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is seeking ideas for how to create active uses among the often-blighted underbelly of freeway underpasses and other elevated structures.
A Primer on Innovative Parking Regulations
Writing for Smart Growth America, Neha Bhatt provides a survey of innovative parking regulation and management strategies in cities around the country.
Placemaking in Communities of All Sizes
A new article from Smart Growth America portrays the successes of placemaking in communities as diverse as Soldotna, Alaska (population 4,163), Orlando, and Philadelphia.
The Future of Urban Planning: Zoning for Drones
Efforts to regulate the use of drones within the United States have consisted entirely of banning their use, rather than taking advantage of their utility. Yet an alternative approach does exist, relying on municipal zoning ordinances.
Study Measures Impacts of Climate and Land Use Changes
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Aarhus University in Denmark understand for the first time the combined potential impacts of both climate and land-use change on plants, animals, and ecosystems throughout the United States.
Interpreting the 'Timeless and Time-Bound' in Cities
In his latest essay on interpretation of the urban environment, Chuck Wolfe suggests that if we take away context clues cities become matrices -- with blank cells to complete -- where each of us personalizes how space meets time.
Lean Urbanism: A Century-Old Practice?
A short case study in Lean Urbanism, compliments of Victoria Beach, Manitoba.
'Future Ground' Competition Focusing on New Orleans Land Reuse Strategies
Spearheaded by the Van Alen Institute, and supported by the New Orleans Redevelopment Agency, the competition brings new life to some of the 30,000 vacant lots and abandoned structures left over from Hurricane Katrina throughout the city.
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.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
City of Clovis
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
