Urban Development
NYC votes to cut outdoor dining red tape, speed up permitting
New York City also voted to allow the Department of Transportation to begin work on urgent projects before notifying elected officials.
LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.
An inspiring look at how women leaders are transforming cities
Book review: “Women Changing Cities: Global Stories of Urban Transformation” brilliantly demonstrates how feminist urban planning creates spaces that serve everyone.
LA may place emergency ban on karaoke room permits
If Councilwoman Heather Hutt’s proposal passes, the moratorium would last between 45 days and one year.
Move over, LA: St. Louis gears up for Olympics, invests millions in downtown redevelopment
The Missouri city will host the 2028 Olympic soccer group stage and knockout matches.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Dallas suburbs are turning their downtowns into small towns
Four Texas towns are embracing walkability and density in their downtowns.
This Chicago neighborhood is using planning to increase life expectancy
The Garfield Park Quality-Of-Life Plan aims to bring residents everything from easier access to fresh food to revitalized commercial corridors.
Yet again, Seattle’s density zoning update is hit with delays
The city must now examine the ‘maximum possible development’ under a future zoning scenario, rather than the ‘maximum likely development.’
Texas’ $1 billion ‘live-work-play destination’ sees progress
When complete, the project’s plaza will house up to 14 restaurants and lifestyle brands in six buildings.
The city is the health system
Your healthcare system treats you after you get sick. Your city decides whether your health declines at all. Singapore is proving that planning is preventive medicine.
A Transect of sprawl
A development pattern this lifestyle-defining deserves its whole own classification system.
What the fall of earth's largest pre-industrial city can teach us about urban sprawl
Angkor was a low-density metropolis. It lasted six centuries, until it could no longer maintain its infrastructure in a changing climate. Today, it offers planners a sobering warning about the risks of dispersed urban living.
To upzone or not to upzone? Two views on the housing crisis
Allowing more density can increase the housing supply, but does the attendant rise in land prices cancel out the benefits?
Children in 55 countries are redesigning their cities in Minecraft
A U.N.-backed program lets students and community members reimagine sites in their neighborhoods in the game — and translate them into real-life buildings.
Nearly a third of US housing is in the wildland-urban interface — and at growing risk of wildfire
As suburbs increasingly mingle with undeveloped land, homes face a higher risk from destructive fires.
Historic Queens park is getting a $120M upgrade
The borough's largest park will undergo significant upgrades for accessibility, flood mitigation and historic preservation.
15 US cities and their global namesakes
Hundreds of cities around the United States are named after other places. We tour a few of them.
80% of California homes built between 2020-2022 are in high fire risk areas
In 2020, California wildfires destroyed nearly a fifth of homes they came in contact with.
Is this the first wave of de-gentrification?
Valencia, Temescal, H Street and the fickle fortunes of the gentrified neighborhood.
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.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
