Social Media

A Brave New World: How Apps Are Changing Planning

Mobile applications (apps) are gaining in popularity as tools for increasing participation in local governance and planning, and are opening up new possibilities for planners to tap into the wisdom of the crowd.

September 4, 2012 - Jennifer Evans-Cowley

Bird's eye view of city skyscrapers at twilight with blurred lights on streets.

Building Bridges to the Future: Preparing the Next Generation of Planners

Discover the importance of preparing the next generation of urban planners to build a sustainable and thriving future.

October 17, 2023 - Devin Partida

A person’s thumb hovers over the Twitter app on a smart phone.

Is Twitter Still an Effective Planning Tool?

Twitter has been a daily dose of drama and upheaval ever since Elon Musk offered to pay over $40 billion to buy the social media platform. Media outlets and public transit agencies had been abandoning the social media platform—should planners?

May 18, 2023 - James Brasuell

Woman holding phone with TikTok logo

Urbanist TikTok Takes Aim at the Suburbs

Planners are using the popular video platform to explain how car dependence and single-family zoning deepen suburban isolation and affect affordability and sustainability.

August 3, 2022 - Bloomberg CityLab

A mobile phone with a crying emoji face and the word "doomscrolling" is on a table between a tissue and a glass of wine.

Twitter for Planners in 2022

Twitter is changing, not in the way Elon Musk wants it to, but it’s still perhaps the most useful social media platform for planners looking for education and engagement.

June 9, 2022 - James Brasuell

COVID-19 and Public Health

The Pandemic Era

"We are living in the Covid-19 era, not the Covid-19 crisis," Allan Brandt, a historian of science and medicine at Harvard University, told Gina Kolata of the New York Times last October in a review of past pandemics and what we can learn from them.

February 3, 2022 - The New York Times

Regional Transit

Only High-Income Riders Rely on Twitter for Transit Info, Study Says

A recent study by the Transit app reveals which communications methods are the most and least effective at reaching demographic groups representative of transit riders.

January 20, 2022 - transit

Social Media Apps

Introducing Urbanist TikTok

It was only a matter of time, and we're probably well behind the times, but the social media platform du jour, TikTok, has a lot to offer the discerning urbanist.

June 29, 2021 - Greater Greater Washington

Social Media Apps

Social Media Bots and the Community Planning Process

Recently published research examines the "Role of Artificial Intelligence in Community Planning"—that is, the role of automated bots on social media in corrupting participatory planning processes.

November 20, 2020 - International Journal of Community Well-Being

New York Public Library

How to Build Thriving Digital Public Spaces

Much of communal life now takes place virtually in digital spaces that feel public but are not. The internet needs to be more like our public parks, libraries, and public squares.

November 3, 2020 - Wired

Neighborhood-Based Apps

Nextdoor Getting Cozy With Local Officials

CityLab investigates the practices of company officials at Nextdoor to cultivate relationships with police and local officials.

May 28, 2020 - CityLab

Italy Coronavirus

Overcoming Social Distance

People are finding new ways to connect digitally across physical spaces during the coronavirus pandemic, and these temporary solutions could have a lasting impact on the way we live.

April 13, 2020 - Lev Kushner

Social Media

Twitter for Urban Planning

Few social media sites offer the same kind of diversity of information and opinion to a field of study than Twitter does for planning.

February 28, 2020 - James Brasuell

Social Media Apps

Which Urban Planning Academics Use Twitter and How

About 1/3 of planning faculty members use Twitter in a professional capacity. Semantic and network analysis of their Twitter use is helpful for reading the pulse of the field.

October 30, 2019 - Tom Sanchez

Los Angeles Metro

What Can Planners Learn from Online Reviews? Examining Reviews of Los Angeles Rail Stations

Eun Jin Shin of Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea, writes about a recent article she authored in the Journal of Planning Education and Research.

October 8, 2019 - JPER

Neighborhood-Based Apps

Neighborhood-Based Apps and the Socialized Fear of Crime

Violent crime is at the lowest rate in decades, but don't tell that to the people who use neighborhood-based apps like Nextdoor, Citizen, and Neighbors.

May 9, 2019 - Vox

2020 Census Logo

More Concern for the 2020 Census: Misinformation on Social Media

The Census Bureau expects misinformation campaigns like those leading to the 2016 President Election to sway the results of the 2020 Census.

February 4, 2019 - Nextgov

Transit Agency Social Media

SEPTA Catches Philadelphia's Mascot Fever

And perhaps regrets it.

October 3, 2018 - philly.com

Burning Man

Meme Urbanism 101

They heard you like transit, so they put transit in your memes. (If you don't know what that means, read on.)

April 19, 2018 - Chicago Magazine

Security cameras on a building

Cities and Surveillance

For six years, New Orleans police have been using a secret program that uses social media to locate violent criminals.

March 7, 2018 - CityLab

News from HUD User

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Call for Speakers

Mpact Transit + Community

New Updates on PD&R Edge

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Websites

The best of the Internet—since 2002.

Top Apps

Planning apps for a brave new world.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

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.