Journalist Patricia Leigh Brown pays a visit to Sea Ranch, the legendary early attempt at ecological community design.
"When the architects Charles W. Moore, Joseph Esherick, William Turnbull, Donlyn Lyndon, and Richard Whitaker and the landscape architect Lawrence Halprin conceived [Sea Ranch] along a mystical 10-mile stretch of California coast in the early 1960s, they courted the wind. They measured it, observed the way its salty gusts sculptured the cypress trees.
Eventually, they would tame the wind in architecture, its force poetically echoed in the angled plank roofs and slanted towers of the original building, Condominium One, an austere Shaker-like ode to nature's power and the first of many groundbreaking structures at Sea Ranch.
Sea Ranch has achieved a sort of a cult status among architecture mavens, who house-gawk rather than bird-watch, bearing a glossy tome by Mr. Lyndon, a spiritual dean of Sea Ranch, as a guide. They come to see a style forged by A-list architects (shed roofs to deflect the wind, windows punched through redwood boards) but perhaps more than that, to pay tribute to a big idea: the then-radical notion, influenced by Mr. Halprin's experience on a kibbutz, of open land held in common and houses designed in deference to nature."
FULL STORY: Utopia by the Sea

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

USGS Water Science Centers Targeted for Closure
If their work is suspended, states could lose a valuable resource for monitoring, understanding, and managing water resources.

End Human Sacrifices to the Demanding Gods of Automobile Dependency and Sprawl
The U.S. has much higher traffic fatality rates than peer countries due to automobile dependency and sprawl. Better planning can reduce these human sacrifices.

Trump: Federal Government Won’t Pay for California HSR
The President has targeted federal funding for the California bullet train project since his first administration.

San Francisco Enhances Urban Planning Initiatives with Green Infrastructure
San Francisco incorporates green infrastructure in its city development initiatives, elevating the importance of sustainability in urban planning.

Chicago Approves Green Affordable Housing Plan
The Mayor’s plan calls for creating a nonprofit housing corporation tasked with building affordable housing that meets Green Building standards.
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.
Tyler Technologies
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions