With economic, employment, and social benefits, food is much more than what we eat. Now Massachusetts has completed a comprehensive food plan in the hopes of doing better with the systems by which food is manufactured, bought, and consumed.
The Massachusetts Food Policy Council recently released the new Massachusetts Food System Plan, creating the state's first comprehensive food systems plan since 1974. The goals and recommendations of the plan discuss questions of land use, processing, food access, food security, workforce development, public health, and hunger, among others. In total, the plan recommends hundreds of specific actions.
The Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, and the Massachusetts Workforce Alliance led a public engagement process through 2014 and 2015 before releasing the new plan earlier this month.
FULL STORY: Massachusetts Food System Plan
How Planners Are Helping Build Healthy Food Infrastructure in Boise
The Idaho Plan4Health Coalition is exemplifying the role of planning in improving public health outcomes connected to healthy food and nutrition.
Urban Farming Addressing Hunger (and More) in Pittsburgh
Urban farming provides opportunities to increase food security in addition to other benefits.
Crisis Could Result in a More Sustainable Food System
The food system, from supply to distribution and consumption, is undergoing a rapid transformation. Community supported agriculture could potentially benefit.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Canada vs. Kamala: Whose Liberal Housing Platform Comes Out on Top?
As Canada votes for a new Prime Minister, what can America learn from the leading liberal candidate of its neighbor to the north?
The Five Most-Changed American Cities
A ranking of population change, home values, and jobs highlights the nation’s most dynamic and most stagnant regions.
San Diego Adopts First Mobility Master Plan
The plan provides a comprehensive framework for making San Diego’s transportation network more multimodal, accessible, and sustainable.
Housing, Supportive Service Providers Brace for Federal Cuts
Organizations that provide housing assistance are tightening their purse strings and making plans for maintaining operations if federal funding dries up.
Op-Ed: Why an Effective Passenger Rail Network Needs Government Involvement
An outdated rail network that privileges freight won’t be fixed by privatizing Amtrak.
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.
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions