To fight increasingly devastating wildfires, government officials and landowners must develop new strategies that proactively address the biggest risk factors.

After another devastating fire season, three new scientific papers outline a plan for "how land managers and policymakers can move from passive to proactive wildfire and forest management," writes Kylie Mohr.
As climate change intensifies wildfires across the West, officials can reduce some of the impacts through a variety of strategies.
These include thinning dense forests that haven’t recently burned, removing some flammable shrubs and bushes, allowing wildfires to burn when conditions are appropriate, and ramping up Indigenous fire stewardship practices, including prescribed burns. If forests are managed well, they’ll still burn — but the fires won’t be so devastating.
The papers, which present facts and misconceptions about a laundry list of management practices, could help landowners and government agencies develop more effective fire management plans. The challenges, writes Mohr, are many: "getting vast numbers of private landowners to work together and understand what they need to do, dealing with federal and state regulatory barriers, permitting red tape, an insufficient federal workforce, a lack of funding, the risks stemming from liability and insurance policies, and a deeply ingrained fire suppression mentality."
Wildfires have grown more severe as climate change worsens 'fire weather' conditions and sprawl puts more communities at risk. Experts suggest that smarter urban growth policies such as infill development and formalized guidance for development in fire-prone areas can mitigate the risk and reduce the damage caused by wildfire.
FULL STORY: Why fire experts are hopeful

Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

Montreal Mall to Become 6,000 Housing Units
Place Versailles will be transformed into a mixed-use complex over the next 25 years.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Santa Clara County Dedicates Over $28M to Affordable Housing
The county is funding over 600 new affordable housing units via revenue from a 2016 bond measure.

Why a Failed ‘Smart City’ Is Still Relevant
A Google-backed proposal to turn an underused section of Toronto waterfront into a tech hub holds relevant lessons about privacy and data.

When Sears Pioneered Modular Housing
Kit homes sold in catalogs like Sears and Montgomery Ward made homeownership affordable for midcentury Americans.
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.
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions