Governance
New Book Sheds Light on Rural Governance
Learn more about a new book that provides some overdue attention to public governance and administration in small towns and rural communities.
Planning Through the Eyes of a Big City Mayor
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall joins the Planning Commission Podcast to talk about housing, street reconfiguration, and saving the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere.
What Is the Best Way To Run a City?
City management models offer different benefits and drawbacks.
How Transit Reform Could Restore Trust in Governance
One writer argues that improving transit in major cities would boost local economies and prove that positive change is possible.
Which Houston Metro Board Members Actually Use Transit?
A review of board members' Q Cards reveals the extent to which the people who implement Houston's transit policy actually use the system: some quite a bit, some not so much.
Wanted in Atlanta: A Department of Transportation
While the Atlanta Department of City Planning includes a Office of Mobility Planning that spearheads efforts to provide new opportunities for non-automobile modes of transportation, the city lacks a consolidated transportation department.
Cook County Property Taxes Cheat the Poor
In Cook County, which contains the city of Chicago and some of its suburbs, property values have been manipulated to disguise the value of homes, helping the rich at the expense of the poor (particularly poor minorities).
Learning from the Humble Trailer Park
An examination of the common trailer park reveals a few key lessons about land use, urban design, and private governance.
Connecting the Dots Between Governance and Placemaking
Seattle's beloved Pike Place offers a case study in how careful governance builds the foundation for flourishing places.
Power to the City
As the presidential election season gears up, Mortimer B. Zuckerman's op-ed offers a cynical and weary electorate hope by invoking a transformative political vision of the role of the city.
Washington, D.C.: A City Held Hostage
A neutral capital "district" may have sounded like a fine idea in the early 1800s. Today, Washington, D.C.—the burgeoning city, not the political fabrication—is crippled by the whims of Congress and a host of anti-urban policies.
Government Reform Proposed for Better Planning in Philadelphia
Geoff Kees Thompson digs into one component of this old city's proposed mayoral platform for Philadelphia: the need to organize the city's alphabet soup of planning agencies under one director and give the Planning Commission teeth.
Ferguson Conflict Provides Lessons in Suburban Poverty
A post by Brookings explains how the racial tensions and violent clashes between police and protestors in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson are a symptom of common contemporary archetype: the impoverished suburb.
5 Innovative Tech Solutions for Civic Disengagement
Communities have a growing number of technological resources available to face the challenges posed by a growing population and a resource constrained world.
More on the High Cost of Infrastructure
A recent editorial in Atlantic Cities laments the regulations and policies that have, according to the author, driven up the costs of infrastructure investments in the United States.
Los Angeles Retooling its Neighborhood Representation Experiment
After 10 years in operation, the Neighborhood Council system in L.A. represents a great deal of unfulfilled potential, say City Councilmember Paul Krekorian. With that, and the city's dire financial straits in mind, Krekorian is proposing reforms.
Last Company Town to Fall
Scotia, California may be the nation's last remaining company town. The entire city could be headed to market this year.
Corruption of Small Cities in L.A. County Reflect a Failure of Governance
The city of Bell made news in 2010 with rampant misappropriation of public funds, but the problem is still (as ever) more widespread than anyone realizes.
Suburban Civics in the Age of Facebook
The recently retired Don Waldie, an impassioned observer and critic of metropolitan Los Angeles, spent his career finding ways for residents to participate to the civic process.
'The Valley' Gets Place-Making Power
A new joint powers authority comprised of cities and county supervisorial districts will help planning efforts in the San Fernando Valley--a sub-region often lost in the shuffle of the sprawling Los Angeles metropolis.
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.
Roaring Fork Transportation Authority
Placer County
Skagit Transit
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
M-NCPPC Prince George's County Planning Department
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
