Community Planning
Charles Wolfe calls attention to similarities between contemporary urbanism and yesterday's debunked utopias. The two may differ in substance, but both tend toward a certain level of dogma that isn't necessarily helpful on the ground.
Public Square: A CNU Journal
Former chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat wants to transform three failing golf courses into free public spaces.
The Toronto Star
The historically Latino working class neighborhood is a frequent touchstone in debates over gentrification in Los Angeles. That history goes back decades and colors residents' perceptions.
BOOM: A Journal of California
Englewood is a predominately black neighborhood in Chicago, struggling with vacancies and the effects of failed urban policies. A bike and pedestrian path could be a huge benefit, but that benefit would look a lot different than other parts of city.
Streetsblog Chicago
CodeNEXT is one of the most ambitious, and controversial, zoning reform projects ongoing in the country, with lessons to offer planners all over the country in code writing, public outreach, and planning outcomes.
CodeNEXT
A new report from the Regional Plan Association, expected for release early next week, will provide suggestions for how the city of New York can empower community boards.
AM New York
The Forest Park Southeast neighborhood in St. Louis has completed a years-long planning process—the result is a new form-based code.
nextSTL
After residents soundly defeated the anti-growth Measure LV in November, city officials are still trying to propose a plan that addresses the traffic and livability concerns that led to the initiative being placed on the ballot.
The Planning Report
Creating adaptive, sustainable communities may require rethinking some planning basics.
Denver Business Journal
The Brooklyn neighborhood of Gowanus was recently added to Mayor de Blasio’s sweeping zoning reform plan. But Gowanus also has plans of its own.
New York Times
California Governor Brown's proposal to streamline affordable housing may cause more problems than it solves, both for affordable housing and community planning, argues Murtaza Baxamusa who teaches planning at USC and develops affordable housing.
UrbDeZine
Downtown L.A.'s Arts District transformed from an industrial sector to a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood. Now, the community's attempts to protect their vision from haphazard development illuminate Los Angeles's broken planning process.
The Planning Report
Abbotsford is the fifth-largest city in British Columbia by population but the largest by land size. The city's most recent community plan is designed to accommodate new growth without sprawling any farther.
Vancouver Sun
Ten years ago, a number of architecture firms went to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina for a humanitarian "experiment"—rebuilding part of the underserved Lower Ninth Ward as an innovative, LEED Platinum, affordable community.
The Planning Report
It will come as no surprise to those tracking the built environment in Los Angeles that City Planning currently faces a number of challenges.
The Planning Report
"Whither planning in Los Angeles?" Sam Hall Kaplan seeks to find out.
The Planning Report
According to Arianna McBride, the recipe for good community design must effectively balance community wisdom with expert knowledge. She shares three ways that planners can facilitate the type of participation that leads to great places.
Citizens' Institute on Rural Design
When the Localism Act was adopted in 2011, local communities gained broad new planning powers across the UK. But as recent events in one London suburb demonstrate, politics and ideological conflict have found a home in the participatory process.
The Global Urbanist
The passage of the Localism Act gave broad new planning powers to local communities across the UK. A new project seeks to build a bottom-up planning culture to take advantage of new opportunities.
The Guardian
Do you know the effect your spiffy new development will have on the neighbors' health? Aaron Wernham and the Kresge Foundation think you could use a health impact assessment.
Shelterforce Magazine
