Jails

Close-up in barbed wire fence around immigration detention center with American flag visible in background.

Architecture Firm to Stop Designing ICE Prisons After Staff Outrage

Employees of one of the nation’s largest “justice facility” firms called on their company to end contracts for detention facilities.

March 18, 2026 - Mother Jones

Former Lincoln Heights jail, now abandoned, with graffiti on white Art Deco stone walls in Los Angeles, California.

Opinion: As Prison Populations Drop, Shuttered Facilities Offer Opportunity

The redevelopment of hundreds of former military bases in the 1980s provides a model for how similar facilities can be repurposed to serve the surrounding communities.

August 10, 2025 - Governing

Deralict stone prison building with turrets and a chain link fence in foreground, under a gray, cloudy sky.

‘Shawshank Redemption’: 5 Adaptive Reuse Strategies for Shuttered Jails

Redeveloping closed correctional facilities in ways that foster just and thriving communities is a growing trend across the United States.

May 15, 2024 - Vera

COVID-19

A Cheer (Or Maybe Even Two) For Redundancy

Is government too efficient to protect us from epidemics?

April 6, 2020 - Michael Lewyn

New York jail

Planning for Jails in New York City Neighborhoods

With a 9-3 vote, the New York City Planning Commission recently approved a plan that would relocate jails into the city's boroughs after shutting down the jail on Rikers Island.

October 11, 2019 - The Architect's Newspaper

NYC Health and Hospitals

Where Care Meets Confinement

For doctors trying to provide mental health care to people who are incarcerated or detained by the New York City Department of Corrections, city jails pose a challenge — and provide an opportunity.

August 8, 2018 - Urban Omnibus

A $48 Million Bet on the 'L.A. Model' of Juvenile Justice

With Campus Kilpatrick, Los Angeles County has made a serious investment in progressive design to support progressive programming.

January 29, 2018 - Metropolis Magazine

Detroit Greenlights Plans for New and Old Jails

A city-county land swap will allow Dan Gilbert to reimagine a former jail, plus build an entirely new one.

November 30, 2017 - Detroit Free Press

How Chicago Hides a Skyscraper Jail in Plain Sight

A federal jail, The Metropolitan Correctional Center, is snuggled right into Chicago's Loop. Reporter Roman Mars looks at how the architecture manages to help the building disappear.

May 20, 2011 - 99% Invisible

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.