Growth Management
Florida Law Would Change the Definition of ‘Sprawl’
One quick way to build sprawl.
Seattle Ponders a New Approach to Zoning for its Comprehensive Plan Update
The city of Seattle will have an updated comprehensive plan by the end of 2024, with zoning changes to follow by 2025.
Different Approaches to Fast Growth in Idaho's Treasure Valley
Three cities on the periphery of the fast-growing Treasure Valley showcase different approaches to a sudden influx of newcomers.
Assessing Prince George's County's Climate Action Plan
The Prince George's County draft Climate Action Plan includes ambitious goals and timetables, but falls short of recommended targets for emissions reductions in the transportation sector.
What Is Conservation Development?
Conservation development combines the development of land with the protection of natural resources.
What Is an Urban Growth Boundary?
Some cities and regions limit the growth of sprawl by setting an urban growth boundary—a strict geographic limit on where real estate development can occur.
Comprehensive Update to Washington State's Growth Management Act Expected in 2021
Effective planning processes offer immense financial savings, and there's never been a more pressing need for both. The state of Washington is setting out to prove the planning dividend.
Study Touts the Housing Affordability Benefits of Density for the State of Utah
The density debate can't be avoided in fast-growing Utah, according to the researchers and political leaders who support the findings of a new report from the University of Utah's Kem C. Garner Policy Institute.
Cascadia Expects Millions of New Residents. Should it Build New Cities or New Density?
A recent report calls for the region stretching from Oregon to British Columbia to think big about accommodating expected population growth. The report's recommendation to build four new, large cities isn't universally accepted, however.
20 Years Later: Envision Utah's Quality Growth Strategy Deemed a Massive Success
The state of Utah created Envision Utah in the late 1990s to address growth while maintaining quality of life and protecting the environment in the state. The plan set goals for 2020, so it's time to evaluate its success.
Development Backlash Follows Population and Job Growth in Western States
As housing prices rise all over the country, quickly growing states like Colorado, Idaho, and Utah are transforming in ways some residents didn't anticipate or desire. Such circumstances are a breeding ground for anti-development politics.
An Ambitious Approach to Planning a Small Texas City
Bastrop, a fast-growing city located north of Austin, is plotting growth on a street grid.
A Transit-Oriented Regional Growth Plan
The Vision 2050 plan, which charts the growth for King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Kitsap counties in Washington State, would focus almost all the growth meant to accommodate 1.8 million new residents inside urban areas.
Support for Shrinking the Nation's Oldest Growth Boundary
Lexington, Kentucky's growth boundary survived a comprehensive plan update in 2019, after years of controversy. A housing crisis, a growing city, and a broken land use system are rearranging the political arithmetic behind the greenbelt.
Environmentalists Urge Gov. Ron DeSantis to Veto Florida Toll Roads Bill
Florida has the distinction of having more toll roads than any other state. Environmentalists want Gov. DeSantis (R) to veto a bill that would build three new ones, adding over three hundred miles of asphalt through mostly rural, unpopulated areas.
Barcelona's Ambitious Plan to Become a Post-Car City
Barcelona is planning to expand on its initial superblock experiment in an attempt to ease the stranglehold of car congestion and air pollution gripping the dense city.
Planning for 1.8 Million New Residents Around Puget Sound
The state of Washington's 1990 Growth Management Act requires regions to create long-range growth plans. The Puget Sound Region Council is currently working on its latest iteration of the plan.
'Turning the Toxic Tide' in Florida
A series of editorial sets an environmental agenda for new political leadership in the state of Florida. Reform of the state's planning and development processes are included.
Which U.S. Cities Changed the Most This Decade
Analysis looks at a decade of data to determine which communities are undergoing dynamic transformations, and which are standing still.
Defending Washington's Growth Management Act
Washington state's 1990 Growth Management Act (GMA) is facing a renewed round of attacks from Republican legislators in the state. A post on The Urbanist says the latest bills designed to weaken the GMA go further than other recent examples.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
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.
