Television

Close-up on :City Hall" carved into stone arch with gargoyle face in middle on Pasadena City hall entrance arch.

The unsung bureaucrat: Planners in film and TV

Is there anything sexy about urban planning?

July 17, 2026 - Jake Pitre

In Planning, Reality Can Be Worse Than Fiction

The Showtime Series Penny Dreadful portrays a bleak vision of 1940s Los Angeles. But, unencumbered by regulations and zoning laws, it also displays what great urban neighborhoods can look like.

May 18, 2020 - California Planning & Development Report

Public Art

'Vida' Examines Gentrification in East L.A. But Now Faces Backlash from Real-Life Protesters

A show about the impacts of gentrification in a working-class immigrant neighborhood in Los Angeles is generating controversy among those it represents.

September 7, 2018 - Los Angeles Times

MARTA Interrupting Bus

Why Can't Public Transit Get a Role on the Silver Screen?

Or even Netflix, for that matter.

February 16, 2018 - Mobility Lab

Modern high speed bullet train in China

The Pop Culture Verdict: Transit Is Hip

Several decades ago, public transit was a distinctly low-quality way of getting around. Now, if we can believe TV and movies depicting the near future, all that has changed. Transit has become aspirational.

April 29, 2016 - Governing

The Golden Age of Television's New Subject: Public Housing

A new miniseries on HBO, from the creators of the seminal series The Wire, will spend the next weeks addressing issues raised by public housing and desegregation in Yonkers during the 1980s.

August 17, 2015 - Vox

How Popular Television Predicts Urban Trends

Christopher and Lisa Leinberger present a history of popular television shows reflecting and predicting how Americans chose to live.

June 17, 2014 - Next City

Friday Funny: The Most Epic City Council in North America

Community Cable 9 has outdone themselves with this trailer for the weekly broadcast of Whitehorse, Canada's City Council meetings. Don't you wish your council meetings were this epic?

August 2, 2013 - The Washington Post

Fantastic Floor Plans of TV's Fictional Abodes

Ever wonder how the layout of some of television's most famous domiciles might be depicted in the hands of a professional? Look no further, interior designer Iñaki Aliste Lizarralde has you covered.

March 4, 2013 - Laughing Squid

John Lautner: Architect for Evil

The homes designed by architect John Lautner have appeared often in films, many times as characters themselves and many times associated with villains. Adam Baer examines what it is about Lautner's designs that inspire associations with evil.

January 21, 2013 - The Virginia Quarterly Review

Simulating Urbanity

HBO's The Wire has wrapped its last season of urban criticism disguised as a cop show. Dan Hill, who creates simulations of cities in his day job, is fascinated by The Wire's simulation and deconstruction of Baltimore.

September 12, 2008 - cityofsound

'Reality's' Reveal

With the Olympics nicely coinciding with my vacation, I think I’ve watched more coverage of the games than the average human should. Prior to the start of the games, I followed with interest the story of how Beijing was re-fashioning itself to host the games. Much has been written on this subject from the loss of the city’s “hutongs” to the “distorted” messages conveyed by the starchitecture. Some have referred to Beijing as a “Houston on steroids.”

August 20, 2008 - Scott Page

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.

Professor of Urban Planning

Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Transportation Planner I

KFH Group Inc.

Director, Strategy and Research

Greater Baltimore Committee

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.