Coronavirus

Empty New York City street during the COVID-19 pandemic with #NYSTRONG billboard in foreground.

Biden Signs Legislation Ending Covid 19 National Emergency

The Covid 19 national emergency enacted by then-President Donald Trump in March 2020 was officially ended on Monday by President Joe Biden.

April 11, 2023 - CNN

Coronavirus Social Distancing

Friday Eye Candy: Covid-19, Then and Now

The New York Times compared images from readers portraying similar scenes in 2020 and 2022.

January 6, 2023 - The New York Times

A group of protestors oppose mandatory vaccinations during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Shifting Demographics of Covid-19

For most of the Covid-19 pandemic, Black Americans died at much higher rates than White Americans. That trend has reversed at times during the past year.

October 23, 2022 - The Washington Post

The Interstate 10 freeway cuts through residential neighborhoods in the city of Alhambra. Downtown Los Angeles is visible in the background,

The Consequences of Sprawl: Overcrowded Housing and Covid Deaths

Los Angeles is the nation's capital of both crowding and sprawl. A feature published by the Los Angeles Times provides the history of how the metropolis achieved this contradiction.

October 20, 2022 - Los Angeles Times

Telecommute

D.C., San Francisco Lead Pandemic Work From Home Trend

Remote work increased threefold during the pandemic, but the numbers vary significantly from city to city and region to region. Almost half of D.C.-area employees, for example, worked from home in 2021, according to American Community Survey data.

September 20, 2022 - The Washington Post

A pair of crash test dummies in a car after a crash with air bags deployed.

Acceptable Deaths

What can we learn from our Covid response?

May 5, 2022 - Angie Schmitt

COVID-19 and Public Health

The Pandemic Era

"We are living in the Covid-19 era, not the Covid-19 crisis," Allan Brandt, a historian of science and medicine at Harvard University, told Gina Kolata of the New York Times last October in a review of past pandemics and what we can learn from them.

February 3, 2022 - The New York Times

A Black LIves Matter Protest, with a protestor holding up a sign that reads "Open Your Eyes: Systemic Racism Is Real"

Racial Disparities in Life Expectancy Are a Place-Based Problem

New research from the Brookings Institution illuminates the racial disparities of public health outcomes both during and before the pandemic.

January 10, 2022 - Brookings Institution

Large numbers of young people, some wearing and masks and others note, walk around an outdoor shopping mall in Southern California.

The Most Popular Articles on Planetizen in 2021

The most-read news, features, blogs, and Planopedia posts on Planetizen in 2021.

December 31, 2021 - James Brasuell

COVID-19 City

What Can Lessons From Traffic Safety Teach About the Covid Response?

Finger waggings aren't effective for pedestrian safety—so why should they work for public health? A "safe system" approach, created for traffic safety in Sweden, offers a model for improved pandemic public health outcomes, according to this opinion.

December 28, 2021 - Angie Schmitt

Global warming and pollution

Study: Poor Air Quality Fuels COVID Transmission

Communities exposed to higher levels of air pollution experience higher rates of infection, particularly in areas with high population density.

November 1, 2021 - St. Louis Public Radio

The exterior of the Civic Opera Building in Chicago, an art deco building built in the 1920s.

Signs of Financial Distress Among Office Properties

The foreclosure risk facing a pair of high-profile office buildings highlight the debt difficulties facing the office sector as it deals with the fallout of the pandemic. The trend could be on the verge of picking up steam.

October 26, 2021 - Cincinnati Business Courier

A person in a bright green vest with the words "Covid Marshall" patrols a street fair in Australia.

5 Tips for Planning Safe Post-Pandemic Events

As community events start move off-screen and become available to the public again, here are five ways organizers can ensure public health and safety.

October 13, 2021 - Devin Partida

People gather on a street with no cars during the L.E.A.F. Festival of Flowers in the Meatpacking District of New York City.

Don't Call it a Comeback: Big Cities Are Outlasting Predictions of Demise

As the new world order of working from home and vaccine hesitancy settles in, it's time to reevaluate assumptions from early in the pandemic about the effect of the public health on the economic health of large cities.

October 1, 2021 - Business Insider

New York City Subway

New York Subway Sets Pandemic Ridership Record

With school back in session and Broadway shows open to the public, subway ridership is surging in New York City, but still well below pre-pandemic levels.

September 20, 2021 - New York Post

Food Pantry

More Support Needed for Organizations Serving the Underserved

A new report details how policymakers and community leaders can improve California's efforts to advance an equitable recovery from COVID by supporting and empowering community-based organizations in underserved communities.

September 14, 2021 - ChangeLabSolutions

LaGuardia Airport

Delta Variant Slowing the Construction Industry

The spike in Covid-19 caused by the highly contagious Delta Variant is slowing the economic recovery in numerous sectors of the economy—case in point the construction industry.

September 7, 2021 - Construction Dive

A group of socially distanced tents for the homeless are set up on a parking lot in San Francisco's Civic Center.

Cities Need More Public Bathrooms–Well Beyond the Pandemic

COVID-19 laid bare the dismal state of public bathrooms in America, and some cities stepped up to add more facilities. But why remove them while the need remains?

August 30, 2021 - Diana Ionescu

Coronavirus and Transportation

What Is the Future for Transit After COVID? - A Debate

Critic Randal O'Toole and advocate Todd Litman debate how communities should plan for public transit in the post pandemic future. Should it contract or expand?

August 12, 2021 - Pairagraph

Lower Manhattan

The Death and Life of the 'Death of the City' Narrative

At the onset of the pandemic, certain media figures were quick to jump on the bandwagon of anti-urbanism. While many of the anti-urban predictions failed to come about—neither did the problems of cities disappear.

July 13, 2021 - The New York Times

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.