The Best Sentences of the Week

By no means authoritative or comprehensive, here's a collection of noteworthy phrases, paragraphs, commentaries, observations, and more from the recent week in the planning and urbanism discussion.

3 minute read

October 10, 2014, 2:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


"...it's as if Light has captured an act of topographical blackout—a whole landscape, redacted—as what should be hills and valleys are erased and obstructed by this imposed crystallography of settlements that never arrived."
From "Landscape, Redacted" for BLDG BLOG.

"It’s author, Thom Andersen, points out that Blade Runner’s version of L.A. in 2019 (!?) shows what is supposed to be dystopia but is closer to what many of us think cities should be like: Vibrant street life, with no cars, a multi-ethnic populace, and plenty of good noodle shops. It just happens to be controlled by Big Business and its replicants."
From "Downtown Dystopia" by Aaron Betsky for Architect

"This is one way that the conflagration of 'black = urban' comes to an end."
From "How 'Black=Urban' Ends" by Pete Saunders for Corner Side Yard Blog.

"Hardly anyone fears healthy, prosperous, and orderly cities, but when urban areas break down—New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina or, more dramatically, Baghdad after the fall of Saddam Hussein—nothing is more anxiety-producing than other people. And a zombie contagion is the ultimate urban-disaster scenario."
From "The Walking Dead in an Age of Anxiety" by Michael J. Totten for City Journal

"Many things in Egypt don’t work very well. Traffic is bad, and trains get cancelled; during the summer, it’s not unusual to have five electricity blackouts in a single day. One year, we couldn’t buy bottled water for months, because the plant that produced the water somehow caught fire. Since we moved into the apartment, the country has cycled through three constitutions, three Presidents, four Prime Ministers, and more than seven hundred members of parliament. But there hasn’t been a single day when the trash wasn’t cleared outside my kitchen door."
From "Tales of the Trash" by Peter Hessler for The New Yorker.

"Downtown is home to what is probably the most awesome nature spectacle LA has to offer. Vaux’s swifts are small sickle-shaped birds that spend their days on the wing feeding on insects. Every spring they migrate from south of the Mexican border up the West Coast to their breeding grounds in the Pacific Northwest. In the fall, they stop off in LA for a breather on their way back. During the day, they hang out by the LA River and other open spaces, eating their fill of insects. But, every evening the group—which can range up to tens of thousands—comes home to roost in abandoned chimney shafts."
From "Looking for Nature in LA" by Lila Higgins and Emily Hartop for Boom: A Journal of California.

"Why is it that this is 'cool' for rich people but 'tough' for poor people?"
David Adjaye, as quoted in "Building Hope and Nurturing Into Housing" by Michael Kimmelman for The New York Times.

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Use Code 25for25 at checkout for 25% off an annual plan!

Redlining map of Oakland and Berkeley.

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.

3 hours ago - Alan Mallach

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

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

May 14, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Front of Walmart store with sign.

Walmart Announces Nationwide EV Charging Network

The company plans to install electric car chargers at most of its stores by 2030.

May 7, 2025 - Inc.

Public Market sign over Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington with pop-up booths on street.

Seattle’s Pike Place Market Leans Into Pedestrian Infrastructure

After decades of debate, the market is testing a car ban in one of its busiest areas and adding walking links to the surrounding neighborhood.

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Yellow and silver light rain train in downtown Long Beach, California.

The World’s Longest Light Rail Line is in… Los Angeles?

In a city not known for its public transit, the 48.5-mile A Line is the longest of its kind on the planet.

4 hours ago - Secret Los Angeles

Man reaching for young girl sliding down playground slide.

Quantifying Social Infrastructure

New developments have clear rules for ensuring surrounding roads, water, and sewers can handle new users. Why not do the same for community amenities?

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