Maps

Mapping the Rental Housing Crisis—County by County

A new map tool breaks down the availability of rental housing around the United States by county. While some markets are tighter than others, it’s impossible to find a place in the United States that has enough rental units per low-income households.

March 4, 2014 - Urban Institute: MetroTrends Blog

Mapped Snow Routes Reveal the Logic of Transportation Infrastructure

A side-by side-comparison of several cities’ snow routes reveals the inherent logic (or lack thereof) of their transportation infrastructure.

February 15, 2014 - Atlantic Cities

Friday Funny: A Map for Finding Lost Mittens

It’s Valentine’s Day, and it’s been a long winter in most parts of the country, so in the interest of staying warm and rightful pairs sticking together, here’s a website that lets people map the locations of lost mittens around New York City.

February 14, 2014 - TLDR

Friday Eye Candy: Mapping Urban Exercise Patterns

An enterprising blogger has produced a slew of urban maps with an overlay of publicly available data on exercise routes. In addition to being fetching, the patterns revealed show how runners make use of the public realm.

February 7, 2014 - FlowingData

Behold the First-Ever Regional Transit Map of New York

For anyone not a fan of the Seattle Seahawks, the best result of this year's Super Bowl might have been the first-ever regional transit map of New York.

February 3, 2014 - Atlantic Cities

Friday Eye Candy: 40 More Maps That Explain Everything

It's hard to keep up with the endless quest to present the world's knowledge in map form, but luckily we've got Max Fisher as a guide. He's collected 40 more fascinating maps that explain world history, present conditions and future scenarios.

January 31, 2014 - The Washington Post

Exploring the Mental Terrain of Ancient Mapmaking

A new exhibition on Greco-Roman mapmaking at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World in New York examines the relationship between geographic and metaphysical world views.

October 3, 2013 - The New York Times

corn field in polk county iowa

Where America Grows: Mapping the Country's Crops

Did you know that sweet potatoes are only produced in a small area of North Carolina? Or that flaxseed is only grown in the country's remote northern reaches? Crop maps published by the USDA paint an interesting picture of American agriculture.

September 15, 2013 - Wired

Help Pick Boston's Next Transit Map

The six finalists in an open competition to design Boston's next subway map have been revealed, and the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) is asking the public to weigh in on the winner.

September 13, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

A Never-Ending Map Of Imaginary Cities

Artist spends decades creating an always-growing hand-drawn paper map of an imaginary place. Development is determined by drawing a random card from a custom deck of cards.

September 5, 2013 - Visual News

Self portrait by Leonardo Da Vinci

World's Oldest New World Globe Found on an Ostrich Egg

A collector has discovered the world's oldest globe to depict the New World, which may have originated from Leonardo da Vinci's shop in 1504.

August 25, 2013 - The Washington Post

Fascinating Friday: 80 Maps That Explain Everything

The battle over who can present the most compelling infographical maps is apparently escalating. The good news, no matter the result, we all win. While these 80 maps may not explain everything, they sure do say a lot.

August 16, 2013 - Bored Panda

Unrealized City Plans a Window on a Future That Would Not Be

Blogger Andrew Lynch’s collection of unrealized city plans is a catalog of could-have-beens.

August 5, 2013 - Wired Blogs

Zombies

Mapping Interest in All Things Zombie

The three geographers behind the Floating Sheep blog have created a world map of Internet references to zombies.

July 5, 2013 - Atlantic Cities

Friday Eye Candy: 19 Fascinating City Maps

Lauren Drell at Mashable has rounded up 19 (or is it 21?) 'dynamic, real-time and compelling visualizations of how we live and move.'

May 31, 2013 - Mashable

Massive Historical Map Collection Added to Digital Library

A private collection of 38,000 historical maps has been added to the Digital Public Library of America, reports Rebecca Rosen, making it more accessible to researchers and anyone interested in the history of their community.

May 2, 2013 - The Atlantic

Can an Upstart Mapmaker Beat Google and Microsoft at Their Own Game?

Glenn Fleishman profiles MapBox, whose 30 employees are taking on the big boys in the development of interactive street and satellite maps. The company is working with Charlie Loyd to develop "the most beautiful, clean map ever made."

April 4, 2013 - The Economist

An Elegant Guide to Walkability

The Spanish city of Pontevedra has developed an innovative, and attractive, map of pedestrian connections based on the color-coded subway maps common to cities around the world; burnishing its reputation as "a leader in walker-friendly urban policy."

March 5, 2013 - POLIS

Friday Funny: Map Madness

BuzzFeed has gathered 38 prime examples of "maps you never knew you needed." And while some are fascinating (such as how much space the world's population would take up if everyone lived in one city) others are just Ludacris.

February 22, 2013 - BuzzFeed

Belligerent Map Campaigns

Old and new maps take center stage in China's effort to lay claims to disputed territories.

February 20, 2013 - The Washington Post

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.