Land Use

Michael McNeilly of SkyTag covered building sides across Los Angeles with multi-story advertisements, disregarding laws prohibiting them. The city is suing SkyTag for millions in penalties.

September 19, 2011 - The Los Angeles Times

September 19, 2011 - Geoffrey Anderson

Vancouver is working to incorporate more density in traditional single-family neighborhoods by allowing additional dwellings in the backyard, adjacent to alleys.

September 19, 2011 - Grist

Aaron Hanauer and Colleen Ayers explain that the "rural cemeteries", a form that began in the early 19th century, used to be a popular place for family outings. With land in cities at a premium, could they be so again?

September 19, 2011 - On The Commons

Elizabeth Farrelly poses that as we get more connected via the internet and social networking, the female traits of connectivity and relationship-building are ascendant and may mean a new feminine paradigm for city-building.

September 18, 2011 - The Age

With a new edition of The Death and Life of Great American Cities releasing this week, Sam Lewis looks at a handful of "planebrities" to see how they would measure up for Ms. Jacobs.

September 17, 2011 - WNET

All over the world, people are celebrating Park(ing) Day, taking over metered parking spots with homemade hangouts and parklets to reclaim public space dominated by cars.

September 16, 2011 - KABC-TV

A large chunk of the state's developed land is designated as low to very low single-family residential, which explains an exceptionally high percentage of workers who commute to work alone. PlanMaryland seeks to change this unsustainable trend.

September 16, 2011 - The Atlantic

Galina Tachieva of DPZ argues that targeting mortgage interest deductions to benefit infill development and denser living would be an effective way to fight sprawl.

September 16, 2011 - Galina Tachieva

September 15, 2011 - Tim Halbur

Phil Taylor of the New York Times writes about an ensuing battle between a Montana wind power transmission project, backed by eminent domain rights, and Montana landowners, fighting for cultural conservation of their land.

September 15, 2011 - The New York Times

In the '00s, housing built around golf courses was all the rage. Stephanie Simon reports that today's consumer wants to live next to an organic farm, vineyard or other micro-rural setting.

September 14, 2011 - The Wall St. Journal

A recent study found that a city could completely live off food grown from urban agriculture. Sharanbir Grewal, the study's author, discovered in his analysis of Cleveland that the city could produce up to 48 percent of the city's fresh produce.

September 14, 2011 - Smart Planet

Montecillo, a 293-acre 'urban village', is the first development to take advantage of El Paso's new Smart Code. The project launched in May, and the developer is already preparing to get Phase 2 off the ground.

September 14, 2011 - El Paso Inc.

Michèle Champagne of Open City Projects Inc. examines Amsterdam's Mercator Square and how it functions as an open space. The community around Mercator Square is ethnically diverse, has good urbanism details, yet violence still is a problem.

September 14, 2011 - Open City Projects

In Berlin and The Netherlands, crazy ideas of building mountains for recreational purposes are actually being entertained.

September 14, 2011 - Pruned

At least, the favorite town of Outside Magazine's readership, in a survey of almost 22,000 readers. Outside says the factors that make Chattanooga hot range from "epic singletrack to progressive city planning."

September 13, 2011 - Outside Magazine

Chuck Wolfe says that urbanism that can readily occur in urban neighborhoods "without really trying" as people naturally come together in impromptu ways.

September 12, 2011 - myurbanist

Gov. Jerry Brown will soon be asked to sign a bill that would loosen environmental regulations on a downtown L.A. stadium, which would also be smothered in LED billboards.

September 11, 2011 - LA Weekly

Jonathan Lerner reports from Fresno, where sprawling development has clashed with agriculture, the region's bread and butter. A new regional plan hopes to preserve farmland and ease tensions.

September 11, 2011 - Miller-McCune