Cities

Skyline of Memships, Tennessee at sunset with glass pyramid in foreground.

15 US cities and their global namesakes

Hundreds of cities around the United States are named after other places. We tour a few of them.

August 7, 2026 - Diana Ionescu

3d diagram of three different city morphologies with various building heights.

New study visualizes how city shapes impact mobility

Whether circular or linear, the shape and layout of cities affects how their residents get around.

July 8, 2026 - Complexity Science Hub

Screenshot of men sitting on bench outside in city in The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces.

William Whyte’s Seminal Urban Film Restored

‘The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces’ changed the way planners view public space and ushered in a new way of understanding urban patterns.

September 22, 2025 - Gothamist

National Guard troops in uniform lined up on a street in downtown Los Angeles next to high-rise jail building with protesters facing them across the street.

Opinion: Far From Cauldrons of Violence, Cities are Anti-Crime Innovators

Rather than funding the performative militarization of law enforcement, the federal government could instead support programs that prevent poverty and crime before it happens.

September 18, 2025 - Architecture and the City

Historic abandoned brick buildings in Baltimore with boarded-up windows.

Does Historic Preservation Really Define a “Successful” City?

One common argument against new housing is that a successful city is an historic city. The data says otherwise.

September 2, 2025 - Michael Lewyn

People walking in crowded square in Kyiv, Ukraine with ferris wheel and old buildings.

In Praise of Analog Cities: Futureproofing in a Time of Crisis

I didn’t need a pandemic or a war to teach me that smart cities weren’t the future — but it sure drove the message home.

July 21, 2025 - Mikael Colville-Andersen

Seeing the Better City

Is This Urbanism?

Chuck Wolfe ponders a recommended subscription list of Substack urbanists and wonders — as have others — about the utility of the "urbanist" moniker.

May 13, 2025 - Resurgence: A Journey via Substack

Paved path with artesian fountain at end and tall trees arching over walkway with joggers and walkers in Savannah, Georgia.

Survey: US Public Spaces Not Meeting Community Needs

A lack of funding prevents many U.S. parks and public spaces from playing a more significant role in helping residents meet daily needs.

April 6, 2025 - Smart Cities Dive

View of brick buildings and One World Trade Center building and New York City skyline.

Is the Urban Form Sustainable?

One author offers a framework for resilience that rethinks common assumptions about the inevitability of cities as we know them.

January 28, 2025 - Next City

stack of books

Planetizen’s Top Planning Books of 2023

The world is changing, and planning with it.

November 24, 2023 - Planetizen Team

AI-generated image of residential single-family Las Vegas neighborhood with earth-toned Spanish-style two-story homes.

How AI Envisions American Neighborhoods

How well does artificial intelligence ‘get’ U.S. cities?

November 7, 2023 - Chris Steins via Medium

A large group of press and media surround New York City mayoral candidate Eric Adams.

U.S. Mayors List Infrastructure as 2023’s Top Concern

The National League of Cities (NLC) has published an analysis of mayoral speeches from various U.S. cities, along with Census data and resident sentiments, in the latest edition of the annual “State of the Cities” report.

August 2, 2023 - National League Of Cities

Subway in India

The Fastest Growing Cities in the World

None of the fastest growing cities in the world are found in North or South America.

January 4, 2022 - City Monitor

Cool shops along Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.

An Expanded Approach to the Analysis of Cities

Even with so much data in the world, cities are a slippery subject. What if an everyday part of life in cities—the "scenes" comprised by businesses, people, and practices of similarly distinct aesthetics—can help our understanding?

November 11, 2021 - Martha Frish

Manhattan, New York City

Cities Are Back (At Least They Were Before COVID)

The 2020 Census results show that central cities were gaining population to a much greater extent than earlier Census estimates had suggested.

August 16, 2021 - Michael Lewyn

Chicago skyline

The Consequences of Urban Population Decline for American Cities

Big cities saw the sharpest population declines during the pandemic. Is the trend here to stay?

June 17, 2021 - Brookings Institution

China

10,000 Cities—and Counting

A novel approach to quantifying the world's urban population provides insight into a changing world.

February 28, 2021 - Next City

Prime Minsiter Trudeau

The G20 and Cities

The Penn Institute for Urban Research's latest issue of Urban Link features Eugénie Birch writing on the important roles of cities as strong partners with nations in supporting the G20’s goals.

December 24, 2020 - Penn IUR Urban Link

woodsnorthphoto

Another Fun Neighborhood Analysis Toy

A Trulia feature offers lots of interesting information about neighborhoods (or at least about how their residents perceive them).

December 23, 2020 - Michael Lewyn

Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump

Trump Neglects Cities to the Peril of the Economy, Experts Say

President Trump is infamous for politicizing civil unrest in cities, but his leadership's animus to urban areas is found in policy as well, despite the importance of large cities to the nation's economy.

September 16, 2020 - The Washington Post

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.

Transportation Planner I

KFH Group Inc.

Director, Strategy and Research

Greater Baltimore Committee

Senior Planner

Eagle County Government

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.