Retail shopping in Hong Kong is a diverse experience of density, hidden storefronts and extreme visual stimulation, as this tour of the city's shopping areas shows.
This tour of Hong Kong's retail areas offers some lessons on integrating vibrant shopping areas into neighborhoods.
"Retail may seem like a trivial thing, but good planners and developers understand that well-done retail is a place-maker in its own right. Its presence gives color and character to a neighborhood, and attracts users who populate the street during the day and at night. Seattle has got its share of eclectic shops , restaurants and clubs, and the city is even experimenting with some truly exciting retail formats, including a charming cluster of small businesses renting pockets of open-floorplan space in the historic Melrose Market; the recent conversion of an often-criticized rave hall into an indoor public market, and new legislation in the works to support street food. These types of successful innovations help define and delight neighborhoods, but still more ground-floor retail spaces sit empty, built because zoning demanded non-residential use at the sidewalk level without a check or balance to determine whether the surrounding density was enough to keep a real tenant in business."
FULL STORY: Hong Kong’s Retail Tetris

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

Map: Where Senate Republicans Want to Sell Your Public Lands
For public land advocates, the Senate Republicans’ proposal to sell millions of acres of public land in the West is “the biggest fight of their careers.”

Restaurant Patios Were a Pandemic Win — Why Were They so Hard to Keep?
Social distancing requirements and changes in travel patterns prompted cities to pilot new uses for street and sidewalk space. Then it got complicated.

Platform Pilsner: Vancouver Transit Agency Releases... a Beer?
TransLink will receive a portion of every sale of the four-pack.

Toronto Weighs Cheaper Transit, Parking Hikes for Major Events
Special event rates would take effect during large festivals, sports games and concerts to ‘discourage driving, manage congestion and free up space for transit.”

Berlin to Consider Car-Free Zone Larger Than Manhattan
The area bound by the 22-mile Ringbahn would still allow 12 uses of a private automobile per year per person, and several other exemptions.
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.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
Custer County Colorado
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)