United Kingdom

Hearst Tower Norman Foster

In the Era of Starchitecture, Whither 'Locatecture'?

Witold Rybczynski laments the globalization of architecture—especially the personal branding of the most famous architects onto the skylines of cities all over the world.

June 17, 2014 - New York Times Magazine

Big Plans for Garden Cities in the United Kingdom

Garden cities have been making news lately thanks to a new book by architect Robert A.M. Stern, but a design competition and policy declarations in the United Kingdom have put some serious skin in the game.

June 4, 2014 - BBC News

Foreign Investors Driving Up Housing Costs, Creating Zombie Communities

A slew of analysis in recent weeks has examined the negative consequences of foreign real estate speculation in cities like New York City, London, and Vancouver.

May 23, 2014 - The New Yorker

Congress' Head-in-the-Sand Approach to Fire Management

The way Congress has appropriated funds for the prevention of forest fires, and fighting forest fires when they occur, guarantees that they will become more costly and dangerous in the future.

May 21, 2014 - Vox

Bristol waterslide

Friday Funday: Turning a City Street into a Giant Waterslide

Artist Luke Jerram recently installed a 300-foot waterslide on Park Street in Bristol, UK. The "Park and Slide" event was massively attended and wildly popular.

May 9, 2014 - Sustainable Cities Collective

U.S. Coal Exports to Europe Breaking Records

If President Obama is waging a "war on coal," as his critics claim, then Europe must be enjoying a love affair with America's high-carbon fossil fuel, and the most polluting variety at that. How could the world's greenest continent turn so brown?

May 8, 2014 - The Wall Street Journal - Business

Stoplight and lights

What if We Got Rid of the Streetlights?

"Shared streets" guru Ben Hamilton-Baillie has shown in the U.K. that there are a lot of better ways to manage traffic than stoplights. CNU asked Ben, as he prepares to come to the United States, if shared streets could work here.

May 3, 2014 - Congress for the New Urbanism

SimCity 2013

Visualizing Big Data In Your Own SimCity World

Two former Mozilla engineers strive to merge big data with a 3D model of London and, potentially, other cities.

April 11, 2014 - FastCompany

London's Airports - The Ultimate Transit Orientated Development?

London's mayor, Boris Johnson, has long favoured the creation of a new airport in the Thames Estuary over expanding Heathrow. New claims of boosting house building in west London have generated further criticism.

April 2, 2014 - BBC News online

New Garden City Won't Solve London's Affordable-Housing Problem

London’s contemporary affordable-housing crisis has revived a century-old idea: the garden city.

March 23, 2014 - Atlantic Cities

Walkable Street

The Underlying Patterns of Urban Street Design

Based on empirical study, J. Alexander Maxwell and fellow University of Strathclyde researchers, in collaboration with Chuck Wolfe, argue for recalling historic patterns of pedestrian city settings in contemporary urban design and policies.

March 20, 2014 - London School of Economics and Political Science - American Politics and Policy Blog

Cutting Planning Out of the Housing Process in London

The Greater London Authority recently published the “Further Alterations to the London Plan” report, which set aggressive targets for housing in the booming city. Now details are emerging about how Mayor Boris Johnson hopes to incentivize housing.

March 14, 2014 - Planning Resource

The 'Quietways' Bike Network Revolution

London has been preparing for years for a “quiet revolution” for its bike network: the "Quietways" of side streets and back roads. London is already building Quietways in anticipation of a September launch.

March 10, 2014 - The Atlantic Cities

Is BBC's Architecture Mini-Series Biased Against Women?

The BBC is in hot water over alleged gender bias in its mini-series "The Brits Who Built the Modern World."

March 9, 2014 - Architects' Journal

Elfreth's Alley

Historic Examples of 'Urbanism Without Government'

We’ve all heard the question “but who will build the roads?” put to libertarians. In a recent article, Emily Washington examines historic examples of urban settings that developed without the guidance of a government.

March 8, 2014 - Market Urbanism

Mini Metro

Friday Fun: Build Your Own 'Mini Metro'

It's been available since September 2013, but news of the "Mini Metro' subway layout game recently hit the web. Finally, a test for all those armchair enthusiasts who think they can make the trains run on time.

March 7, 2014 - Dinosaur Polo Club

Edinburgh

Why Urban History Matters

Chuck Wolfe's recent reconnaissance of Edinburgh provides a foil for his rallying cry: Going forward, let’s not discount the influence of history’s recurring themes in how we redevelop the urban realm.

March 4, 2014 - myurbanist

City Visas: The Right Way to Lure Talent?

Should dying cities like Detroit get their own visa programs to attract skilled foreign workers? What about prosperous cities like New York and London?

February 13, 2014 - Future Cities

An Unflattering Look at Transit Accessibility

A newly released series of animated GIFs provides a powerful visualization of how paltry even the most robust transit systems in the world look to those with special needs.

February 11, 2014 - Mappable

"Stop Mass Immigration" Referendum Passes In Switzerland

The vote to approve restrictions on immigration passed narrowly with 50.3 percent of the vote. The main repercussion may be how it impacts trading with its neighbors in the EU as immigration quotas may invalidate a 1999 treaty allowing free movement.

February 11, 2014 - The New York Times

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.