Planetizen Newswire
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Community Planning
The people sitting, playing, and enjoying themselves in parks aren't always representative of the population that live in the communities. Here are three examples of parks that succeed at inclusion.
Urban Institute
Manhattan Valley has seen little development, but an influx of young families, new restaurants, and a community-driven planning effort are stirring the pot.
Crain's New York Business
Two community plan updates, to the Central City and the Central City North community plans, comprise the DTLA 2040 plan. DTLA 2040 is also the first showcase for the city's new zoning code system.
Urbanize Los Angeles
Feature
The interdisciplinary work of the Kounkuey Design Initiative, led by executive director Chelina Odbert, and deeply committed to the homegrown potential of neighborhoods and communities.
Development interest is flocking to Avondale, a mostly Black neighborhood with relatively high poverty rates in Cincinnati.
WCPO
The work of the Orton Family Foundation provides a leading example of community-driven revitalization at work in small towns all over the country, according to this feature in the Christian Science Monitor.
The Christian Science Monitor
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
