What should graduate students read the summer before entering planning school? For those with some time on their hands the following suggestions can help provide direction.
What should graduate students read the summer before entering planning school? Perhaps because I’m now the director of a graduate planning program I get asked this quite a bit. This is a hard question to answer. If admitted students are busy working in planning, being planning activists, or making money to support their graduate studies there may not be much time for reading. This is fine as graduate courses will lead students through a set of readings in a structured manner. However, for those with some time on their hands the following suggestions can help provide direction.
Read a set of classic articles in planning theory. This is a subfield within planning dealing with the justification of planning, planning ethics, planning and politics, and the role of planning in society. A book like Readings in Planning Theory, edited by Susan Fainstein and Scott Campbell, provides a very good overview of such articles. Such books can be picked up used for around $25 and are a good investment.
Read some classic books in the area of planning. Planteizen’s Top 20 All-Time Urban Planning Titles is a reasonable place to start. I might quibble with some entries but these are all useful books.
For a list of readings compiled by students, try the Planners Network Disorientation Guide. They have a media and book list on pages 13-16.
In the past in response to this kind of request I also compiled lists of city and metropolitan plans and famous places.
Finally I might put in a plug for my previous advice columns, indexed at http://annforsyth.net/for-students/advice/.

Planning for Congestion Relief
The third and final installment of Planetizen's examination of the role of the planning profession in both perpetuating and solving traffic congestion.

Minneapolis Housing Plan a Success—Not for the Reason You Think
Housing advocates praise the city’s move to eliminate single-family zoning by legalizing triplexes on single-family lots, but that isn’t why housing construction is growing.

New White House Housing Initiative Includes Zoning Reform Incentives
The Biden administration this morning released a new program of actions intended to spur housing construction around the United States.

How To Sustain the E-Bike Boom: Make Riders Feel Safe
Riders of electric and non-electric bikes alike agree that they would ride more if they felt safer on city streets, signaling a need for an increased focus on bike infrastructure.

Zoning Stands in the Way of Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is cheap as ever, but zoning isn’t keeping up with the market.

Mixed Use Could Lower Neighborhood Crime Rates
New research shows areas with a heavy concentration of commercial offices experience 40 percent higher crime rates than neighborhoods that mix residential and commercial uses.
City & Borough of Juneau
City & Borough of Juneau
DMR Architects
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Redwood City
City of Rohnert Park
City of Hot Springs
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.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.