Community Benefits

View of Chicago river and waterfront with boats at night.

Designing the Path to a Consequential Place

What is public interest design? And what should we be considering as we shape a process that fully embraces and realizes a project’s public interest potential? Understanding these key principles and characteristics can help.

January 22, 2024 - Studio Civic | Pulse

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland City Council Wants More Community Benefits From Developers

A proposed measure would require developers receiving city incentives to provide more benefits to local stakeholders and increase local hiring.

March 7, 2023 - Signal Cleveland

A map of the Boston harbor with locations highlighted that will be vulnerable to sea-level rise.

Boston to Leverage Private Developers for a New Climate Resiliency Fund

It's going to take a lot of funding to build the infrastructure to protect coastal cities from rising seas as climate change takes hold. The city of Boston is starting to experiment with revenue sources that can fund the necessary improvements.

September 10, 2021 - The Boston Globe

Detroit Skyline

Jeep Plant Isn't Getting a Warm Reception From Detroit Residents

Fiat Chrysler’s plan for a new Jeep plant in Detroit is off to a rocky start.

March 23, 2019 - Detroit Free Press

Houston, Construction

Houston Requires Community Benefits for Development Subsidies

Houston joins cities like Philadelphia, Detroit, and Minneapolis in demanding a greater return on public dollars.

June 8, 2018 - Next City

Electric Scooter Share

Bad Break for Scooter Rental Company in its Hometown

Years before there was e-scooter-share, there was electric (Vespa-like) scooter-share in San Francisco by start-up Scoot. Now that they are ready to launch electric bikeshare, the city won't let them, unlike Barcelona, Spain where it began service.

May 31, 2018 - San Francisco Chronicle

How Community Benefit Programs Create Value-Added Growth and Protect Public Resources

With redevelopment funding no longer an option, South San Francisco and other cities increasingly are looking to a community benefits platform, according to Murtaza Baxamusa, a planner and urban planning professor.

April 28, 2015 - UrbDeZine

Did the Community Get Too Much out of the Atlantic Yards Deal?

In a recent filing, Forest City Ratner reported that it will lose $250-$350 million of its initial investment in the Atlantic Yards project. Higher-than-expected costs to build affordable housing, among other things, are being blamed for the loss.

December 13, 2013 - Next City

Disgruntled Developers and Residents Have Vancouver Planning Chief Talking Transparency

Just two months into his job as Vancouver's Chief Planner, Brian Jackson is responding to a growing backlash from developers and residents unhappy about an opaque system for determining and implementing community benefits.

November 19, 2012 - The Globe and Mail

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.

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.