Los Angeles

Nithya Ramen talks to an older man. She is smiling and wearing a yellow dress. They are both outside.

Los Angeles just elected an urban planner as its mayor

Transportation analysts are optimistic that Raman will be more aggressive in addressing transit issues than Bass.

November 7, 2026 - Los Angeles Times

People cross a crosswalk in Los Angeles.

LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks

Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.

November 4, 2026 - ABC7

A woman bikes through a parking lot in Los Angeles.

Not in my parking spot: LA renters oppose ADU development in their garages

Some tenants advocates say taking away residents’ parking spaces harms senior citizens and people with disabilities who rely on their cars to navigate the city.

November 4, 2026 - Los Angeles Times

A rendering of the California high speed rail Fresno station. Two escalators leading into the station are visible.

California High-Speed Rail Authority picks trainset manufacturer

The California High-Speed Rail Authority aims to start servicing passengers by 2033.

November 1, 2026 - Railway News

A green sign for Koreatown on a red pole

LA may place emergency ban on karaoke room permits

If Councilwoman Heather Hutt’s proposal passes, the moratorium would last between 45 days and one year.

November 1, 2026 - Los Angeles Magazine

A crowd of people around one of Honolulu's automated trains.

From robotaxis to robotrains: LA, DC weigh driverless transit

If approved, the projects will take years to implement and face financial and technical hurdles.

October 27, 2026 - The Associated Press

A metro worker wraps an LA Metro bus in wrap celebrating the FIFA World Cup.

LA doesn’t need new transit for LA28: it needs to connect the transit it already has

The 2026 FIFA World Cup in Los Angeles showed that if the county’s transit providers work together, they can move thousands of people with ease. With two years remaining before the Games, the region should treat that success as inspiration, not a finish line.

October 26, 2026 - Juan Ramirez

A cracked sidewalk in Los Angeles.

LA accused of breaching $1.4 billion sidewalk repair settlement

The city faces a backlog of nearly 5,000 street repair requests.

October 25, 2026 - LAist

A rendering of the Vermont BRT line, which shows two red bus lanes.

LA to bring bus rapid transit to its busiest corridor

The Vermont BRT line will feature 12.4 miles of dedicated bus lanes along the Vermont corridor.

October 25, 2026 - LA Urbanize

A group of children walk past yellow school buses on the way to school.

Learning loss and urban schools, part 2

Did test scores in progressive cities drop more post-COVID than test scores in moderate ones?

October 23, 2026 - Michael Lewyn

Dogs play in Hart Park

Op-ed: Finding the value in LA’s emptiest parks

Los Angeles has the nation's largest dog population, but a measly 14 dog parks. Adaptive reuse can help bridge this gap.

October 16, 2026 - Aysie Bower

Drone photo of dam on upper Otay Lakes Reservoir. It is covered in graffiti.

CA officials have the power to fix the state’s riskiest dams. They’ve never used it

California’s 40 most hazardous dams would endanger up to 1.5 million people if they failed.

October 15, 2026 - Cal Matters

A downtown area in Los Angeles, with a Taco Bell visible. People wait to cross the street towards a tall apartment building.

The LA housing policies making developers turn away from the city

Despite LA’s housing shortage, developers say the city’s "mansion-tax" and pandemic-era policies make it an unappealing place to build housing.

September 23, 2026 - Los Angeles Times

People cross a wide street in San Francisco, with tall buildings in the background.

New density bill would require 7 California cities to establish regional transit hubs

The bill would also require major cities in California to permit high-rise residential buildings.

September 23, 2026 - Smart Cities Dive

A rendering of Los Angeles highway lanes with white text reading LA 28, and an overhead sign reading "LA 28 VEHICLES ONLY."

LA needs $2 billion in Olympic Games transportation funding by Sept. 1, officials say

Congresspeople who serve the Los Angeles area met on Aug. 26 to urge the Trump administration to speed up funding.

August 28, 2026 - Los Angeles Times

A series of unhoused people’s tents in Hollywood.

Los Angeles rescinds twelve 'anti-camping zones'

The zones previously prohibited unhoused people from camping in parts of Hollywood.

August 21, 2026 - NBC Los Angeles

A black and wood coloured ADU in Los Angeles

Los Angeles County gained more than 10,000 ADUs in 2025 — and barely made a dent in its housing goals

A new study warns that the burst in ADU development will not be enough to remedy Los Angeles’ affordable housing gap.

August 19, 2026 - Smart Cities Dive

South Bay Gardens apartments

Los Angeles opens public housing waitlist for first time in over two years

The 16 properties with newly available waitlist spots accept families and senior residents.

August 19, 2026 - Los Angeles Magazine

LAX people mover

Meet the Hollywood YouTuber who exposed the LAX people mover "fiasco"

Nick Andert uncovered the "brazen and unethical behavior" that has mired the Los Angeles International Airport people mover in years of delays and cost overruns.

August 16, 2026 - The Hollywood Reporter

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.

LA has no plan — or funding — to help unhoused people displaced by Olympics security efforts

City and county officials say they don't have the funds to offer housing to the up to 1,600 people that will be displaced by perimeters around event venues.

August 13, 2026 - LAist

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.

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.