Portland

How Zoning Might Make or Break New Streetcar Lines

As St. Louis and Portland speed along with new streetcar developments, Yonah Freemark considers how zoning may determine the success of one, and the failure of another.

September 23, 2012 - the transport politic

Portland Shifts Gears

America's burgeoning bicycle culture gets the star treatment, as USA Today focuses its attention on the new infrastructure, new funding, and new culture that have made bicycling in Portland an ease.

September 13, 2012 - USA Today

Cycling Renaissance Races Across America

From coast to coast, cities across the United States are experiencing a rise in bicycling. Local governments are leading the peloton, with cycle-friendly policies and increases in government funding spurring a municipal pedal pursuit.

September 10, 2012 - The Economist

Creative Class Cannibalization

Richey Piiparinen discusses the "Frankenstein effects" of place-making, in which, he argues, the diversity of people and place that attracts the creative class is eventually forced out by those in search of the "highest and best use."

September 4, 2012 - New Geography

Portland Perfects the Public Toilet

Portland's progressive urbanism - from its smart growth restrictions, to its revived historic Pearl District and bicycle infrastructure - are the envy of cities across America. Could the city's new sustainable public toilet be its next export?

September 3, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

Apartment Building Boom In Portland - Without Auto Parking

OPB investigates the flood of new apartment buildings going up in downtown Portland and finds that two-thirds lack any motor vehicle parking - which is great for renters without cars seeking affordable housing, but can anger the neighbors.

August 19, 2012 - Oregon Public Broadcasting

Desire for Streetcars Spreads Across America

From Atlanta to Kansas City to Los Angeles, cities across the country are welcoming a return of streetcars to their downtowns in the hopes of boosting economic growth and improving circulation. Some see the cars as just the latest urban planning fad.

August 15, 2012 - The Wall Street Journal

Portland Looks to Move Beyond Auto-Centric LOS

After years of signaling its intent, it appears as though the City of Portland is getting serious about ditching its auto-centric level-of-service (LOS) metric with one that evaluates multiple modes, reports Jonathan Maus.

August 3, 2012 - Bike Portland

Census: The Top Bike Commuting Cities In U.S.

The League of American Bicyclists updated their webpage with a link to the American Community Survey's data on bike and pedestrian commuting for the 70 largest cities and 375 more cities where data was available. Portland, OR and Davis, CA are tops.

June 26, 2012 - League of American Bicyclists

Portland's Subsidized Segregation

In the first part of a series examining the failure of Portland-area fair housing, Brad Schmidt explains how a region that prides itself on its progressive values and openness to diversity is "harboring a form of institutionalized racial inequity."

June 5, 2012 - The Oregonian

What Are the Most Bikeable Cities?

The folks behind Walk Score, the incredibly popular walkability measure, are beta testing a new metric that judges the bikeability of cities, writes Jess Zimmerman.

May 15, 2012 - Grist

Habitat for Humanity Builds Big in Portland

Kirk Johnson chronicles the nonprofit housing builder's move into larger-scale housing development in Oregon, as it takes advantage of the depressed real estate market, and the kindness of donors.

May 13, 2012 - The New York Times

Is Portland Well Planned? Its Mayor Doesn't Think So

Mayor Sam Adams pens an opinion piece for Grist in which he considers why Portland is not as well planned as it could be, and how a different approach to planning is necessary for American cities to address their most pressing challenges.

May 3, 2012 - Grist

How Can We Create Effective Regional Planning?

Kaid Benfield looks at shortcomings of the dominant national apparatus for regional planning - the Metropolitan Planning Organization - through the lens of transportation, and pines for new mechanisms for regional cooperation.

May 1, 2012 - Switchboard

Are Green Cities Sitting on a Golden Goose?

Copenhagen's leadership in urban sustainability gives them more than just a shining reputation. Bruce Katz considers how cities can cash in on environmental innovation.

April 26, 2012 - The Guardian

Making Energy Conservation a Local Prerogative

Coinciding with Earth Day, PBS is airing a series of programs highlighting the ways in which local communities are working to conserve energy in order to save money and save the environment.

April 22, 2012 - PBS

Ranking America's Hipster Havens

Katrina Brown Hunt ranks America's top ten cities for hipsters with the help of Travel + Leisure readers, who voted in the magazine's annual America’s Favorite Cities survey.

April 19, 2012 - Yahoo! Travel

America's Best Bike Cities

With gas prices at an all time high, bike riding has never looked better.  Shermans Travel identifies the top cities to bike through, noting a bounty of amenities to save on costs for the urban biker.

March 29, 2012 - The Huffington Post

In Portland, A Grim Outlook for a Transit Leader

The same issues afflicting transit agencies across the country, the perfect storm of declining funding and rising costs, are conspiring to challenge Portland's leadership in transit innovation and adoption, reports Ryan Holeywell.

March 13, 2012 - Governing

Driving out one Nuisance With Another

The American Society of Landscape Architects examines the implications of squeezing teens out of the public sphere.

March 4, 2012 - THE DIRT

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.