Urban Planning
You Still Have to Fight in Planners’ Paradise—You Just Fight for Better Stuff
Scandinavian countries are often praised for the forward-looking planning practices associated with social democracy. Urban planning there includes lots of enviable features, but a tour of a high-profile project outside Oslo, Norway was a reminder that even an urbanist’s paradise includes political fights, squabbles among interests, and embarrassing delays familiar anywhere else. Progressive politics encourage progressive plans, but the process and pitfalls remain the same.
Retrofitting a "Planned" City in Mumbai
Navi Mumbai was a planned community built in the 1960s to reduce congestion in the city. The design catered only to the rich, with a golf course and upscale residential development. With a mandate to get more diverse, Navi Mumbai is at a loss.
Running Cities Like A Business
Former Albuquerque Mayor Martin J. Chavez writes that the great success of Mayor Bloomberg's PlanNYC is due in large part to a process that borrowed key principles from the business world.
Student Planners Remake Toronto
Toronto's former chief planner Paul Bedford asked his students at Ryerson University to present 100-year plans to re-imagine Toronto.
Conventional Planning May Be Contributing to Cleveland's Decline
Reason.tv has launched a multipart series of videos on how the city of Cleveland can turn itself around using free-market approaches and limited government reforms.
Carfree Design Manual
As planners, one of our roles is to help stretch the scope of what is considered possible. For example, between 1950 and 2000 most development was highly automobile-dependent, based on the assumption that almost all travel would be by personal automobile and other modes were relatively unimportant. This pattern is so well established that many people have difficulty imagining anything different. It is useful to help people understand the full range of options available, from automobile dependency to carfree communities.
HUD Hearts Portland
Obama's brand new Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities admits to being inspired by Portland's groundbreaking urban planning policies.
Accessibility, Mobility and Automobile Dependency
Let me wade into an ongoing debate among fellow Planetizen bloggers Samuel Staley and Michael Lewyn concerning the meanings of accessibility and mobility, and their implications for transportation and land use policy.
Reinventing Raleigh
Raleigh planner Dan Douglas has some bold proposals for the city, including nine new public squares, green roofs, and a new Grand Central Station-style transit hub.
The Baltimore Red Line: Maximizing Benefits and Minimizing Impact
An account of planning for the Red Line Project in Baltimore.
Jane Jacobs vs. Robert Moses
A review by John King of Anthony Flint's new book, Wrestling With Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York's Master Builder and Transformed the American City.
New Study Recommends Efficient On-Street Parking Pricing and Management
A new study identifies innovative approaches to efficiently manage San Francisco's curbside parking supply, particularly in neighborhoods.
US-Arab Annual Cities Forum Next Week
Next week, the Greater Amman Municipality will host activities of the 2nd US-Arab Forum, which will last from June 22 to June 24.
To Make Planning Relevant, Turn to Open-Source Methods
Urban planning is falling into obsolescence, according to this piece, but employing old bottom-up techniques that value input from a variety of sources will make it relevant again.
The Hornery Institute and Inner-Urban Suburbs
On a recent business trip to Australia, I had the opportunity to visit with an interesting group of social planners called The Hornery Institute. Specifically, their charter is “to assist communities in becoming better places to live, learn, work and play.” The Hornery Institute was established in November 2000, in recognition of Lend Lease’s Chairman, Stuart Hornery and his commitment to community and people. To mark his retirement, the shareholders and employees of this great company formed a not-for-profit organization that allowed Hornery and his dedicated, hand-picked staff to continue working on independent projects to make communities more fulfilling.
Clash of Subways and Car Culture in Chinese Cities
The question is whether the burrowing machines can outrace China’s growing love affair with the automobile.
Plugging into Planning: Baltimore and New Orleans
I am enjoying the last day of my Independent Activities Period (IAP) – the period after winter break in which all students at MIT can take one of many non-credit or for-credit course offerings at MIT, set up a winter externship, or just do nothing. This amounts to six weeks of bliss!
Making Urban Planning Fun, For Kids (and Everyone)
When Chris Steins approached me with his idea to write a kids book about urban planning, I was a little skeptical. We had gotten a hold of a book from 1952 called Neighbor flap foot. The City Planning Frog, by Bill Ewald, Jr. and Merle Henrickson, and to be generous, it wasn’t fit for a modern audience. Here’s a sample: “Did you know that there is a special rule from City Hall to make sure each house has plenty of light and air, Mickey?” the wise frog asked. “No, I haven’t heard about that.” “Well, there is. Blue Nose told me about it,” answered Flap Foot, hopping about to limber up his stiffened legs. “It’s is called zoning. It is a good rule, like brushing your teeth, only this rule is for people who build buildings.”
Pointing the Finger at Planners
In allowing places to be designed for cars before people, city planners are primarily to blame for creating an "autocentric" America, according to this article.
Urban Planners, Butt Out!
The authors of one study assert that vibrant cities can't be engineered by the application of "nuanced criteria"; however, this has very much become the paradigm of urban planning.
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.
City of Fort Worth
planning NEXT
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie
