In an effort to build healthy, active public realms, many cities should considering some of the laws currently on the books that amount to shouting "get off my lawn."
"Despite growing recognition that attracting young people is key to urban competitiveness, a surprising amount of municipalities still maintain laws that communicate that kids—teenagers mostly—are scary at worst, or a nuisance at best," according to Angie Schmitt in an article for GOOD magazine.
Schmitt goes on to detail three examples of laws that "criminalize being a young person," including skateboarding bans, which, Schmitt argues, "are among the most ubiquitous and clearest examples of anti-youth laws." Basketball bans and curfews are also cited as anti-youth policies.
How Urban Design Can Benefit Parents and Kids
Designing thoughtful, child-friendly public spaces can ease the burdens of modern parenting and offer safe spaces for children to learn self-reliance and resilience.
The Parking Lot Maternity Leave
New parenthood is the stress test of suburbia. I’ve learned the hard way just how spectacularly it fails.
Jim Crow Robbed America of Public Pools. It’s Time to get Them Back.
Disparity amongst who can and can’t swim in America isn’t an accident — and it's deadly. Let’s reclaim the community pool as an essential public space.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
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.
Los Angeles just elected an urban planner as its mayor
Transportation analysts are optimistic that Raman will be more aggressive in addressing transit issues than Bass.
Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
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