Urban Development

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Facebook to Donate $20 Million for Housing and Jobs in its Own Backyard

Facebook has decided that being a good neighbor means donating funding toward affordable housing.

December 10, 2016 - The Wall Street Journal

Gentrification Mural

Friday Funny: The Best of the Best Gentrification Parodies

Sometimes you have to stop and laugh about the big problem with no immediate nor obvious solution. You might even learn something while doing it.

December 9, 2016 - The Guardian

Long Beach

Inside the P3 that's Reinventing Long Beach

Several years ago, officials in Long Beach, California, found themselves in a pickle. They had an aging city hall in need of seismic retrofits (price tag: $194 million). Fast-forward to last July, when ground was broken on a $520 million project.

December 9, 2016 - Doggerel

Mansion

New ULI Report Classifies Differences Among Suburbs

The U.S. remains largely a suburban nation, though central cities are experiencing a great comeback after years of population loss. But what exactly is a suburb? A new report from the Urban Land Institute provides answers by providing subcategories.

December 9, 2016 - Urban Land Institute

Google Timelapse

Friday Eye Candy: A 30-Year Timelapse Reveals Humanity's Expanding Footprint

The Google Timelapse feature has been updated. The only thing that stays the same is that everything changes.

December 9, 2016 - The Verge

Sustainability or Survivability? How Environmental Crisis Follows Inequality Crisis

Asia's fast-growing cities are having disastrous impacts on both environment and civilization. A Singapore-based firm is trying to create news ways of building before it's too late.

December 8, 2016 - n+1

No Luxury Condos

San Francisco Rejects Environmental Review for Lack of Gentrification Analysis

In what could be a first, but potential not a last, the power of the California Environmental Quality Act was invoked in San Francisco with regard to concerns about gentrification.

December 7, 2016 - San Francisco Chronicle

Jane Jacobs

100 Years After Her Birth, Jane Jacobs Might Not Recognize New York

Sam Hall Kaplan reviews "Eyes on Street: The Life of Jane Jacobs" and offers insight gained from personal experience with the "Saint of City Planning."

December 7, 2016 - Sam Hall Kaplan

The Architecture at Zero Competition Imagines the Future of Net Zero Energy

The winners of the 2016 Architecture at Zero competition took a case study located in the fog-locked city of San Francisco and delivered a net-zero site plan for a mixed-use academic facility.

December 7, 2016 - The Architect's Newspaper

Trailer Park

How a Portland Trailer Park Saved Itself from Redevelopment

Dozens of Portland trailer parks closed in the real estate bubble of the early 2000s, but in 2016, a group of tenants, the Housing Bureau, and an anti-displacement coalition worked to save one of the city's last places for very low-income renters.

December 6, 2016 - OPB

Death Toll at 36 in Friday Night's Fire at Oakland Warehouse

Lax code enforcement is one of the concerns being raised by the devastating fire that occurred during a rave-style party, Artists had taken up residence in the building, which was not permitted for either general assembly events or residences.

December 6, 2016 - Los Angeles Times

What Mobility Leaders Think About Car Connectivity

As autonomous vehicles prepare to disrupt transportation systems, Ford Motors President & CEO Mark Fields, L.A Chief Sustainability Officer Matt Petersen, and rideshare company Chariot co-founder Ali Vahabzadeh opine on tomorrow's mobility ecosystem.

December 6, 2016 - The Planning Report

Athens, Georgia, Broad Street

Athens, Georgia: Where Broad Street Is Too Broad

Athens, Georgia has come to the conclusion that the city's Broad Street may just be a tad too broad. Now what to do about it?

December 5, 2016 - Flagpole

A New Twist for Downtown Dallas Big Box Proposal

A Dallas County judge threw a wrench in a controversial plan to build a 100,000-square-foot Sam's Club near Cityplace in Dallas.

December 5, 2016 - The Dallas News

recycled water sign

California Using Data To Maximize Water Conservation Efforts

Even as the Golden State has a wetter fall, California's water leaders have launched a new tool to leverage information technology and available information to support decisions around local water reliability.

December 5, 2016 - The Planning Report

Columbus

A Showdown Looms as Developers Seek New Building Heights in Columbus

The region surrounding Columbus, Ohio could add a projected one million people by 2050, and developers are looking for new ways to meet growing demand for urban living.

December 5, 2016 - The Columbus Dispatch

A city council meeting.

Why Bother with Community Engagement?

What is the highest purpose of community engagement? Why do some planners go all out to hear from the public? This article dives into these questions based on nine interviews conducted at APA 2016.

December 4, 2016 - Dave Biggs

South of Market

Plan Bay Area Update Calls for 30 Percent More Housing by 2040

The plan centers a large portion of the housing growth — around 46 percent — in the Big 3 Bay Area Cities: San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose.

December 4, 2016 - Greenbelt Alliance

Model of Downtown LA

Mapping Los Angeles' Underutilized City-Owned Property

New data shows that the city of Los Angeles owns nearly 9,000 parcels throughout the region—and that it could be doing a lot more with them.

December 2, 2016 - The Planning Report

Baldwin Park

A New Urbanist Community, 15 Years Later

A look at how Baldwin Park has matured after 15 years of development.

December 2, 2016 - Modern Cities

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.