Land Use
What Is Mixed-Use Development?
Long an urban norm, mixed-use neighborhoods fell out of favor in the United States in the automobile age as single-use zoning became common. These days, mixed-use development is back in vogue, but implementation remains a challenge.
What Is Local Control?
State preemption and local control are two of the most controversial and contested concepts in land use. Understanding when and where one or the other takes precedence is key to understanding the politics and governance of planning.
What Is State Preemption?
State preemption and local control are two of the most controversial and contested concepts in land use. Understanding when and where each one takes precedence is key to understanding the politics and governance of planning.
Generative Codes Yield Better Plans
Ngoc Hong Nguyen of the University of Danang writes about a recent article he authored in the Journal of Planning Education and Research
New Ideas in Urban Research 2019
Research questions and findings from Penn IUR's emerging scholars.
Orange County Streetcar Project Ignoring Equity Issues, Say Activists
Critics say transportation officials have failed to address the potential equity and displacement effects of the Southern California streetcar project.
Private Golf Courses Closing in Chicago's Suburbs
Failing golf courses pose a choice for cities that can use tax dollars to turn them public or put the land to use in other ways.
Zoning’s New Role in Environmental Justice
Long used to promote inequality, zoning and land use are now helping to keep vulnerable communities safer and cleaner.
Zoning to Protect Manufacturing in N.Y.C.
Development in industrial areas is pushing out manufacturers, but new zoning regulations could help control the incursion.
Four Parking Spots for Every Car in Phoenix
A new study quantifies just how much of the city of Phoenix is parking.
What Makes a Transit System Great in the U.S.
Transit should make people's lives better, with density a key component of successful systems.
The Street-Level Consequences of Zoning
Modern zoning practices separated uses, claiming this was a better way to organize American cities. However, the social, cultural, and urban design outcomes drastically changed the world we live in.
TEDx: How Will Autonomous Vehicles Transform Cities?
Nico Larco presents a TEDx Talk on the impacts AVs will have on cities, including impacts on land use, land valuation, and the environment. AVs are more than just a transportation issue, and planners need to prepare for the coming changes.
Tiny Home Villages: Who Will Host Them?
Imagine if hosting a transitional tiny home village for the homeless became the norm for all suitable vacant land?
Two Simple Sentences Could Reshape Suburban America
A seemingly innocuous sentence embedded in almost every subdivision ordinance across the United States has disconnected neighborhoods and made cities unwalkable. Two sentences could change that.
Downtown L.A. Sees Vacancies Rise and Homeless Populations Grow
There's plenty of housing available in Downtown L.A. for the wealthy but, while those apartments sit empty, many looking for housing find costs too high to pay.
An Ambitious Plan for New Housing on Chicago's South Side
A South Chicago neighborhood will get 20,000 new residential units if a plan goes through.
A Relentless D.C. Zoning Activist
Chris Otten says change doesn't come from "being nice to decision makers," so he's comfortable being confrontational with developers and City Council members he sees as taking advantage of the poor.
$2.5 Million is Too Much for a Teardown
Palo Alto has become so expensive, plots of land with derelict houses sell for millions of dollars. Mathew Yglesias argues allowing small municipalities to make their own zoning laws is partly to blame.
FresYes: How Fresno Fueled and Funded a Comeback
Recently termed-out Mayor Ashley Swearengin sits down for an exclusive interview about how she planned for high speed rail investments, championed sustainable water management, and took steps to rebuild the local economy.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
