Enabling local affections involves hard work from individuals, locally embedded institutions, a built environment scaled to people, and community-focused habits and practices.
Ever since our country was founded, moving has been in our collective DNA. Every year, 30 million Americans move, and we do so for all kinds of reasons—to get an education, to be closer to (or farther from) family, to be nearer to cultural amenities, and (most often) for a job. And although economists laud our incessant mobility as good for national prosperity, critics are increasingly worried about our apparent inability to be in place.
Rather than lament our national restlessness, Melody Warnick sets out to help nomads like herself in her new book, This Is Where You Belong: The Art and Science of Loving the Place You Live. The wife of an itinerant professor, Warnick has certainly contributed to the statistics on moving herself—her recent move to Blacksburg, VA was number six for her family. But instead of succumbing to loneliness and fatigue, as can be the case with any new move to an unknown place, Warnick decides to not just to get to know her community but to learn how to care for it.
Read the full story: The Emergence of Place Attachment A Review of Melody's Warnick's "This is Where You Belong"
Marrying Urban Identity and Economic Prosperity
A new book posits that truly successful communities have a strong economic base and a firmly rooted sense of place.
The "vicious cycle of real estate mania" — and how we might find our way home
Book review: In "The Lost and the Found: A True Story of Homelessness, Found Family, and Second Chances," Kevin Fagan humanizes the housing crisis like never before.
10 great urban planning summer reads
Wherever you're going (or staying) this summer, here are some suggestions for books to bring along.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
‘Going backwards:’ Baltimore mayor, students rally against state's transit funding plan
Maryland's proposed six-year plan provides no funding for Baltimore’s BMORE bus program and reduces its road maintenance funding.
Mamdani sent nearly 6,000 pied-à-terre tax warnings to homes that didn’t qualify
A judge has ordered the administration to cancel thousands of pied-à-terre tax notices after it sent 35% of them erroneously.
One of nation’s poorest counties to receive $6 billion data center
The developers estimate the project will create 200 permanent jobs and 1,000 temporary construction jobs.
MTA expects Trump’s tariffs to increase new NYC transit costs by $1 billion
The Metropolitan Transit Authority said the cost of new subway cars has risen by 30% since Trump began his second term as president.
Alaska takes public comment on new long-term plan for roads, bridges and more
Alaska's draft Statewide Transportation Improvement Program includes over $1 billion for the Alaska Marine Highway System.
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 Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello