Land Use
Experts Weigh In On Urbanization
The Freakonomics blog at The New York Times recently put together a panel of experts and asked them to outline the implications of our increasingly urban world.
Anaheim Plans To Remake Its Sports District Into Highrise Urban Village
Anaheim (Orange County, CA) has big plans: 20,000 urban infill homes planned for their sports district. While the zoning change passed the council on a 4-1 vote, developers will wait for the housing market to recover.
The Determining Factor of Walkable Places
Almost all of the towns with high percentages of walking commuters are centered around an institution, like a university or military academy, where many are housed very close to their classes or jobs.
Columbia Says Expansion Will Not Require Evictions
Officials at New York's Comubia University have vowed that they would not use eminent domain or evict any tenants as they move forward with their 25-year expansion plan.
Planners And Developers Have Grand Visions For Empty Land in L.A.
Planning has begun for a 400-acre plot of land near downtown Los Angeles, and expectations are high.
Walkability Report Raises Questions and Doubts
California Planning and Development Report's Paul Shigley reviews the recent report on walkability released by the Brookings Institution and finds some of its claims dubious.
Cars Take Back Seat in Planned Transit-Friendly Street
In Toronto, planners have unveiled a street design that separates a planned streetcar line from auto traffic, bike lanes, and parking. Many are calling it a first for the city -- making the street decidedly transit- and pedestrian-friendly.
Walls Create Safety, Segregation In Baghdad
More and more walls are rising in Baghdad neighborhoods, giving areas a calmer, safer feel. But the walls also create a prison-like atmosphere and many residents are conflicted about the tradeoff.
Development And Logging To Blame In Flood
Devastating floods in the southern Washington community of Chehalis have many tracing the roots of the problem back to clear-cut logging and a long pattern of unchecked floodplain development.
National Heritage Areas In Center of Property Rights Debate
With more and more land receiving federal protection as National Heritage Areas, property rights activists are butting heads with the preservationists they say are taking rights away from landowners.
Report Says Growth Management Plans Make Housing Unaffordable
In this new report from the Cato Institute, Randal O'Toole writes that regional growth management plans make housing unaffordable and that states with these laws should repeal them.
Munich: A Marvel Of Smart Growth and Urban Planning
Urban planners and developers in the Western United States could learn a lot from Munich, Germany, argues one online commentator.
Developing Affordable Housing In The Suburbs
With more low-income households settling outside of urban centers, planners are faced with the challenge of getting affordable housing built in traditionally upscale suburban communities where zoning has all but forbid low-cost homes.
Rising Death Toll Inspires Pedestrian Safety Initiative
After a string of pedestrian fatalities, Montgomery County, Maryland, is pushing a broad plan to improve pedestrian safety.
The Latest Home-Based Business: Wineries
Planners in Tacoma, Washington have approved a new ordinance that allows small-scale microwineries to be legally operated out of the home.
China Moves To Protect Farmland With Higher Taxes
To stem the loss of farmland to development, the Chinese government is raising taxes on non-farmed arable land by 500%.
Reorienting Suburbs Toward An Interdependent Future
Created as a celebration of American individualism and consumerism, suburbs will need to reinvent themselves to successfully lead an interdependent world, according to this article from Newsday.
Japanese Urban Centers Fading In Rural Prefectures
Smaller cities in rural areas of Japan are being gutted out, as big box centers continue to sprout up outside cities.
Planners Object, But Courts Approve Housing Development
When developers made plans for a housing development on land an Israeli kibbutz had to sell off, planners said the required rezoning was out of the question. But five years later and still without planners' approval, the courts have allowed project.
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.
Greater Baltimore Committee
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
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
