The failure of the most centralized land use planning system in modern history provides lessons for planners.
Richard Carson draws on his recent visit to China: The important lesson, for those of us involved in making land use planning policy, is that the more centralized the land use planning system, the more dysfunctional it may become. Bigger is not always better. This is especially true for large scale planning areas - like states - where mandated land use planning often proscribes a "one size fits all" planning regime that can preempt local planning authority and workable local solutions. State-mandated land use planning often ignores the major geographic differences in geomorphology, land economics, historical development patterns and cultural beliefs of specific places.
Thanks to PLANetizen Editor
Read the full story: Does Centralized Planning Work?
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Malls are becoming the midtowns of the future
Mall and office park redevelopments are a generational opportunity to create new nodes of urbanity.
Officials claim feds 'rushed' Amtrak environmental review
Amtrak plans to move their Chicago maintenance facility from an industrial area to a residential one.
NYC breaks ground on anti-flooding infrastructure project
New York City's new system will reduce stormwater flows to local sewers by 90%.
One Kentucky town’s secret to affordable housing
The Smoketown Community Land Trust has already built seven affordable homes for community members.
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