Arts & Culture

Australia

Unlocking the City with Context Keys

The human memory is so powerful that a place on pavement suddenly can trigger a stream of imagery from the distant past, or a meaningful story of something that once happened there. We should champion such keys to the context of a place.

March 10, 2021 - Charles R. Wolfe

San Francisco Density

Arts-Oriented Land Trusts Preserve Affordable Cultural Spaces

A community land trust in San Francisco is buying up properties with the goal of preserving affordable spaces for arts and culture.

December 14, 2020 - NextCity

New York Cuty, New York

Arts Performances Take to the Streets

The New York City "Open Culture" program will offer artists of all kinds to move the stage to the street and other public spaces. It's like an open streets program for the arts.

December 11, 2020 - New York Daily News

London

The Renewed Challenge: Sustaining a City's Culture and Character

From the outset, defining the culture and character of a city is a daunting task, especially when the city around you disappears.

July 8, 2020 - Sustaining Place

Charro Days

A Radically Different Planning Process in Brownsville

In a year-long program that included bike rides, serenades, and Dragtivist performances, an art collective guided Brownsville, Texas residents in reimagining how they could influence equity and justice in their city.

October 24, 2019 - Shelterforce Magazine

Barbes Music

Safe for Now, Brooklyn Music Mecca Sees a Cloudy Future

More than 20 percent of New York's smaller music venues have closed in the past 15 years. Although Brooklyn institution Barbes was recently saved by a crowdfunding campaign, its founder is pessimistic about the future of New York's independent arts.

July 13, 2017 - Soft City

From Caracas to Remote Villages, One Family's Search for Venezuela

Like his father and great-uncle before him, 37-year-old Caracas native Guillermo Lares is using Venezuela's rural traditions to help himself and his contemporaries reflect on the country's current reality.

April 27, 2017 - Soft City

Little Tokyo

Preserving the Character of Little Tokyo

In the wake of rapid gentrification, an organization in Los Angeles is leveraging the arts to celebrate a community's rich heritage and keep social equity a priority.

January 30, 2017 - Shelterforce/Rooflines

Boston Skyline with Dome

Boston Looks to Artists in Cultural Plan Development

A program in Boston to "enliven and strengthen" the arts and creativity in the city's diverse neighborhoods employed artists to seek out and define how people interact with art in their community.

June 2, 2016 - Barr Foundation

Busy Downtown

On the Creative Neighborhood's Two Basic Forms

Richard Florida discusses a study comparing the neighborhoods that house "creative" industries. Science and tech tends to favor low-density office parks, while arts and cultural industries prefer mixed-use urban districts.

May 19, 2015 - CityLab

Subtle, Gentle Creep North for Development in San Francisco's SoMa

There is development life in San Francisco outside of SoMa (South of Market). Jim Chappell, former SPUR director, reviews some of the activity in this second installation of a series.

October 17, 2014 - UrbDeZine

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.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.