Pavement to Parks

Asphalt

To Make Cities More Livable, Get Rid of Pavement

Paved surfaces take up close to a third of space in U.S. cities, polluting waterways and contributing to the urban heat island effect.

July 14, 2021 - Next City

Pac-Man

Friday Funny: Seattle Street to Pay Homage to Pac-Man

The people's choice: Pac-Man.

July 22, 2016 - CityLab

Parklets Poised To Revolutionize Public Space, In a Tiny Way

Imported from Europe, parklets transform parking spaces into inviting public spaces. They are flourishing in San Francisco, and are poised to invade other cities across the country.

June 29, 2011 - California Planning & Development Report

Pilot Projects Are Nice, But Not As Nice As Permanence

Despite the quality of temporary public spaces being created in San Francisco, their use of funding sources and lack of permanence could hurt efforts to build permanent public spaces, according to this piece from the San Francisco Chronicle.

September 28, 2010 - San Francisco Chronicle

Combining Pavement and Reusable Materials to Make Urban Parks

Allison Arieff argues that cities should look to reversible parks modeled on the Pavement to Parks program to prevent blight, combat the practice of land banking, and model sustainable practices.

September 28, 2009 - NYTimes: By Design Blog

More Ped Plazas On The Way

With the successful launch of the 17th St. park, San Francsico's "Pavement to Parks" project is moving to its next location, the corner of Guerrero and San Jose. Activist Gillian Gillett has been pushing for something to happen there for years.

July 18, 2009 - Streetsblog

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.