Built as an embodiment of the ideals of prison reformers, the Eastern State Penitentiary had running water and central heating before the White House, and housed the first synagogue built in an American prison.
When Sarah Lerner showed up at the Eastern State Penitentiary on a dark, cold January morning for the first day of David Brownlee’s class about the historic prison-turned-museum in Philadelphia’s Fairmount neighborhood, she wasn’t signed up for the class, or even planning on taking it.
“I just tagged along with friends to check it out,” says Lerner, a first year graduate student in historic preservation. “But it was so immersive from the second I got there. I was hooked.”
FULL STORY: Eastern State Penitentiary: A Penn Class about the Past Speaks to the Present and the Future
Seattle Exhibit Grapples With Redlining Past and Present
A creative exhibit highlights how redlining and racist exclusion persist today.
Architectures for Art and Crime
Art, architecture, and incarceration collide in essays on prison design from the Panopticon to the Golden Gulag.
How Transit-Accessible are Presidential Museums?
Most Presidential libraries and museums have some transit accessibility, but none are in big-city downtowns.
How the Trump Presidency Could Impact Urban Planning
An analysis of potential changes in federal housing, transportation, and climate policies.
Research Affirms Safety of ‘Idaho Stop’
Allowing cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs does not negatively impact safety and can help people on bikes more effectively navigate roadways.
Denver Pauses Multifamily Development in Westside Neighborhoods Amidst Gentrification Concerns
City officials say the pause on permits for redevelopment projects aims to stop the displacement of long-term residents.
San Francisco Reveals New Bike Plan
The draft plan targets improvements on 385 road segments.
The Ripple Effects of Remote Work
The number of Americans who work from home rose sharply during the pandemic and remains high, posing important questions about the future of transportation and housing.
Shuttered Baltimore Hotel Will Become Affordable Housing
The project will create 303 new workforce housing units in a former downtown hotel.
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.
Placer County
Skagit Transit
Berkeley County
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
City of Cambridge, Maryland