Urban Development

The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge

Five Years Later: Dallas' Iconic, Catalytic Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge

Santiago Caltrava designed the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas, which is all you need to hear to understand the Texas-sized ambition of the project. Evaluating the bridge's success, five years after its opening, is more complicated than that.

March 27, 2017 - Dallas News

Staten Island Ferry

State Legislation to Pressure New York City for Property Tax Reform

New York City's property tax system is a growing source of political consternation, and now state legislators have entered the fray.

March 27, 2017 - SI Live

Risk Reduction

'Supervised Injection Facilities'—Successful in Canada, Coming to the U.S.

Needle exchanges are still controversial in some parts of the country, so expect "supervised injection facilities" to be even more so.

March 27, 2017 - Governing

The Most Sustainable Town in America

The story of Babcock Ranch, "a planned community that could become the most sustainable town in America," as told by Marlene Cimons for Nexus Media.

March 26, 2017 - Nexus Media

BART

Today: BART Goes Farther South Than Ever Before

As it has promised for years, Bay Area Rapid Transit today opens the Warm Springs/South Fremont extension of the regional rail transit system. The first train departs at the station at 5:48 am, and the first train arrives at 7:04 am.

March 25, 2017 - San Francisco Chronicle

Pontiac, Michigan

Volkswagen Emissions Cheating Scandal Produces Land Use Lawsuit in Michigan

The city of Pontiac has filed a lawsuit over the illegal storage of hundreds of Volkswagen vehicles. The vehicles have mothballed at the Pontiac Silverdome as a result of the buy-back program necessitated by the 2016 emissions cheating scandal.

March 24, 2017 - Oakland Press

Old Timey Ticky Tacky

Could Algorithms Best Architects in Designing Variety for the Suburbs?

What if an algorithm could meet the needs of the economic system driving suburban housing development while also designing more diverse building types? One architect has already experimented with this provocative thought experiment.

March 23, 2017 - Co.Design

Halloween

Sesame Street vs. Donald Trump

Sesame Street, which would lose federal support if some of the cuts proposed by the Trump Administration's draft budget go into effect, has been lampooning Donald Trump since long before he became president.

March 22, 2017 - The Boston Globe

Shopping Mall

Are Malls and Streets Destined to Merge?

While much has been made of the suburban shopping mall's decline, successful urban retail spaces are taking their inspiration from the humble city street.

March 21, 2017 - The Guardian

Boston's New Master Plan—Not Like the Old Master Plan

A land use attorney and planning instructor at MIT and Harvard University takes to the pages of The Boston Globe to explain planning to the audience of a new era.

March 20, 2017 - The Boston Globe

Cairo, shared space

Population Boom Continues to Stretch Cairo's Resources

This year, Cairo is estimated to grow by half a million people, but the city's economy is not keeping pace to support all of them.

March 19, 2017 - ENCA

Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne, Australia Plans Assault on Sprawl With '20-Minute Neighborhoods'

Melbourne's long-range plan for development through 2050 envisions denser neighborhoods, built around the idea of 20-minute neighborhoods.

March 17, 2017 - Melbourne Herald Sun

A Defense of HUD's Grant Funding

Next City explores the possible consequences of reported desire by the Trump Administration to cut $6 billion from the budget of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

March 16, 2017 - Next City

University of California

Homeless People and Expensive Housing Cause an Identity Crisis in Berkeley

The city of Berkeley is suffering the consequences of the urban revival—soaring housing costs and humanitarian crises don't reconcile with the city's famously progressive politics.

March 15, 2017 - The Guardian

Nightlife in Tel Aviv

Debate: Is a 'Restaurant Recession' a Sign of Urban Decline?

Examining both sides of a debate about whether the urban revival's high-water mark is visible in the restaurant sector.

March 15, 2017 - Governing

Sun Link Streetcar

The Gentrification Discussion Arrives in Tucson

Concerns about affordability and cultural identity are emerging in Mexican-American and African-American neighborhoods in Tucson.

March 15, 2017 - Arizona Public Media

American Dream Miami

$3 Billion Mall Proposal Still Facing Traffic Concerns in Florida

A massive mall, proposed for a 174-acre stretch of land that abuts the border between Miami-Dade and Broward counties, has so far breezed through approvals. "American Dream Miami" will still require political victories.

March 15, 2017 - Sun Sentinel

Streetcar

San Francisco's Plans for Market and Van Ness Reach a Crossroads

San Francisco Chronicle urban design critic John King reveals more than one layer of planning significance from a project proposed near one of the city's most prominent, but underutilized, intersections.

March 14, 2017 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Leaving California

A Proposed Legislative Solution to California's Out-Migration Epidemic

The Sacramento Bee follows-up a revealing report on lower income workers leaving California due largely to exorbitant housing costs with an editorial endorsing legislation by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco to address the source of the problem.

March 13, 2017 - The Sacramento Bee

Omaha - Wagon in the City

Billion-Dollar Mixed Use Project in Omaha Gets Preliminary Approvals

A large mixed-use development proposed as a 'gateway to western Omaha' has received approval from the city's planning board.

March 13, 2017 - Omaha World Herald

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.

Professor of Urban Planning

Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Transportation Planner I

KFH Group Inc.

Director, Strategy and Research

Greater Baltimore Committee

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.