Land Use
The Post-Olympics Neighborhood
For a few weeks in 2012 a part of East London will be host to 20,000 journalists. After the Summer Olympics, though, the area set to host the media will be a mixed use neighborhood of nearly 3,000 homes, if all goes as planned.
Pilot Projects Are Nice, But Not As Nice As Permanence
Despite the quality of temporary public spaces being created in San Francisco, their use of funding sources and lack of permanence could hurt efforts to build permanent public spaces, according to this piece from the San Francisco Chronicle.
A New Waterfront in the Works for Seattle
Seattle is panning to tear down an aging viaduct that runs along its waterfront and replace it with a tunnel beneath downtown. When the viaduct falls, the city is looking to increase public space on a new waterfront.
Warehouses to Urban Farms
Yesterday's infrastructure can become tomorrow's agriculture, says Ed Harwood, by converting underused industrial warehouses and factories to hydroponic and aeroponic growing.
Could Classic Hill Towns Be a Model for Town Planning?
In classic hill towns, people showed innovation and dynamic placemaking--lessons learned for urbanism in the new century, says Chuck Wolfe.
Urban Sprawl and Development Threatening Biodiversity in Animals
Habitat fragmentation linked with urban sprawl and development has been shown to negatively impact biological diversity in animals, according to new research.
Anger Upstream on the Nile
Egypt runs on the Nile's water. But with a growing population, Egypt's Ministry of Irrigation expects that the Nile will barely be able to meet the country's water needs by 2017. Its neighbors are increasingly angry about its overuse.
A Central Park Emerges in Downtown Los Angeles
Authorities in Los Angeles are working on a grand plan to unify the city's core with a new Downtown Civic Park Project.
Celebrating Park(ing) Day 2010
Park(ing) Day, the worldwide event where artists, activists and architects take over parking spaces and transform them into public spaces, happened this week. Wired has pictures from this year's festivities.
Lawsuit Over Zoning Dismissed, But the Damage is Done
The Town of Kingston, Massachusetts won a lawsuit this week, filed over whether land around the town's commuter rail station was properly rezoned -- but lost the promised developer and a state grant for smart growth in the process.
From Displacement to Permanent
In Haiti, displacement camps full of people left without homes after the devastating January earthquake are becoming more and more permanent. Deborah Gans argues that these sites should be more carefully planned to foster functioning places.
The Unplanned City
David Knight and Finn Williams ask, "what can we build without planning?" Turns out that a lot of things get built without process, from building extensions to temporary structures.
Ownership Undecided on California Naval Base Redevelopment
A decommissioned naval base in Concord, California, is moving steadily towards redevelopment as a mixed use community. But who will own the redeveloped base is still undecided.
Indianapolis Plans Street Redesign Ahead of Super Bowl Hosting
The city of Indianapolis is using its hosting duties for the 2012 Super Bowl to rework one of its main streets into a new public space.
Community Says 'No' to In-N-Out
Locals in Walnut Creek are up in arms over a proposed In-N-Out Burger. Columnist Tom Barnidge says that while "provincialism often is the catalyst for complaint," there is reason to protest in this case.
The Essential Principles of Brownfields Regeneration
With "brownfield" (former industrial or commercial sites) development on the rise, it is essential for planners to have a clear process for approaching this tricky development type, say Justin B. Hollander, Niall G. Kirkwood and Julia L. Gold.
Struggling Towards TOD on Long Island
Developers on Long Island are hoping to build transit-oriented developments as a way of keeping young residents on the island and increasing the amount of affordable housing. But some local opposition is standing in the way.
Looking Down on Sprawl
Writing in The New York Times, Geoff Manaugh looks at Christoph Gielen's aerial photography of urban development and sprawl.
Applying "Smart Decline" in Vegas
Las Vegas columnist Scott Dickensheets turns to Tufts planning professor Justin Hollander to ask what Sin City should do to combat plummeting home values and draining population.
Friday Funny: Man Encourages Neighborhood to Secede
Jim Massey of East Pennsboro Township, Pennsylvania is unhappy about plans to build a new apartment complex in his neighborhood, so he's encouraging his neighbors to secede from East Pennsboro and join a nearby town.
Pagination
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.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association