Bad Design

When Designers Should Just Say No

The accouterments of modern life are heavily designed, replete with ostensible utility. But here's a radical suggestion: "Perhaps we’re solving the wrong problems — or inventing problems that don’t exist — as justification for our excessive output."

September 16, 2014 - Medium

Philly's Ugliest New Building Shows the Folly of Public Subsidies

Philadelphia Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron has the knives out for a new hotel built in Center City, calling it the 'worst new architecture' in the city. Worse yet, we all helped pay for such awful design.

August 19, 2013 - philly.com

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.