Land Use
High Speed Rail Sprawl
Some planners are warning that high speed rail could spur exurban growth and sprawl.
Rethinking Urban Alleyways in Seattle
Through a new competition, the city of Seattle is looking to revive and reuse the alleys of the urban core.
WalMart Purchase Thwarted, Family Sues City of Rezoning - And Wins
WalMart made an offer to purchase a plot from a family in Frankenmuth, Michigan, but withdrew the offer when the City Council rezoned the land for a limited building size. The family sued, and a federal judge awarded them $3.6 million.
Redevelopment Agencies Circle the Wagons, Fight for Funding
Redevelopment agencies, lead by the CRA, are planning their strategy for how to keep their local redevelopment funding from the state. CP&DR blogs and tweets from the California Redevelopment Association conference.
Ray LaHood Surprises Bike Advocates at Summit
Secretary LaHood praised bike advocates for their work promoting livable communities, and admitted that he and his wife are weekend bicyclists.
Planners' Mistakes in Framing the Problems of Traffic
This research paper focuses on how land use planners are continuing to plan and develop cities and urban areas in ways that increase traffic and congestion.
Land Grab in Africa
In what The Guardian calls "the greatest change of ownership since the colonial era," enormous swaths of African land is being sold to foreign countries seeking agricultural lands to feed their growing populations.
International Airport As Real Estate Speculation
The first new international airport in America in more than a decade is taking form in Florida panhandle. It's part of a broad effort to turn the region into a destination -- and a valuable real estate development.
Inchvesting in Detroit
$1 will buy you one square inch of a vacant lot in Detroit, and membership in Jerry Paffendorf's club of "inchvestors." It may sound like a scheme, but Paffendorf calls it a way to network, invest in Detroit, and attract entrepreneurs.
Infrastructure Spending, Policy Benefit Suburbs and not Cities
Harvard economics professor Edward L. Glaeser argues that the United States has a long, pervasive pattern of anti-urban behavior that needs to change.
Urbanites Make the Case for Goats as Pets
The don't bite. They don't need much space. They follow kids around like a dog. We're talking about miniature goats. Planning commissions across the country are being asked to moved the hooved animals into the "pet" category.
Billboards: Blight, or Right?
Are billboards visual pollution, or valuable information source? Sao Paolo, Brazil banned billboards in the city in 2007 and is an interesting case study.
Can Urban Design Alleviate the Need for Cops?
A look at public space as a "community living room" and the role of police within the context of Los Angeles.
Feds to Perform Ecological Studies on BLM Land
Tasked with managing millions of acres of public lands, the federal Bureau of Land Management has announced plans to perform detailed ecological studies of some of its most notable properties.
Critiquing the Architectural Critic
This piece from Design Observer takes a pointed and critical look at the work of New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff and finds much to be desired in his work.
Brookyln Bridge Park Expands
The new park takes an old waterfront park and connects it with previously inaccessible space to create an 85-acre site stretching 1.3 miles along the waterfront.
Portland, Maine: Preserve Fishing, or Allow Condos?
The Portland waterfront is zoned to exclude anything but marine uses, but with a slump in the fishing industry property owners are pushing for the freedom to build for other uses along the water.
Zoning for Food Trucks
Food trucks are hot in Los Angeles, but local restaurateurs are understandably upset by the surprise competition. Mobile vendors have banded together and established a "gourmet food lot" downtown as a sort of solution.
Putting Good Energy with the Bad
Facing resistance when siting green energy projects like wind turbines, energy companies are considering brownfields like the Leviathan Mine in California's Alpine County.
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.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
