Urban Development

Houston, Texas

How Houston Achieved Lot Size Reform

Nolan Gray of George Mason University and Adam A. Millsap of the Charles Koch Institute write about a recent article they authored in the Journal of Planning Education and Research.

July 22, 2020 - JPER

New York Subway

New York MTA, Facing $16 Billion in Losses, Plans Drastic Cuts

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has faced budget crunches before, but never one like the budget crisis caused by the pandemic.

July 22, 2020 - The New York Times

Granny Flat

ADU Business Booming in California

The number of Californians adding Accessory Dwelling Units to residential properties has quickly grown during the pandemic, according to industry sources.

July 21, 2020 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Houston

New Houston Housing Report Tells a Story of Under-Investment

A new report from the Kinder Institute for Urban Research highlights the state of housing the Houston and Harris County, and more specifically, the historically Black neighborhood of Settegast in northeast Houston.

July 21, 2020 - Rice Kinder Institute for Urban Research

Beltway Traffic

Car-Centric Choices Shortchange the Walkability Goals of the 2010 Tysons Comp Plan

Ten years after Tysons, an unincorporated community in Fairfax County, Virginia, approved an award winning comprehensive plan, there's still work to be done to achieve its ambitious goals.

July 21, 2020 - The Washington Post

The Villages, Florida

The Villages and the Dangers of Holding Too Tightly to the Past

Some parts of The Villages, Florida, the nation's largest retirement community and one of its most popular master planned communities, bear a striking resemblance to the neotraditional development favored by famous early examples of New Urbanism.

July 20, 2020 - James Brasuell

Connecticut

Pro-Development Coalition Forms in Connecticut

DesegregateCT is a growing coalition of groups coalescing behind ideas like Missing Middle Housing and zoning reform as a means to improved housing affordability.

July 20, 2020 - Hartford Courant

Atlanta, Georgia

Mapping the Displacement Risk of Opportunity Zones

An Atlanta case study.

July 20, 2020 - Next City

Downtown Nashville

Giant Mixed-Used Development Project in Nashville Levels With Coronavirus Impact

Is the density of a 6.2 acre mixed-use development too much for the coronavirus era? Fifth + Broadway developers weigh in on the future of the project.

July 19, 2020 - Bloomberg CityLab

Zoning Code

What Is a Form-Based Code?

Form-based codes are a variety of development regulation that departs significantly from the land use control approach of most zoning codes in the United States.

July 16, 2020 - James Brasuell

Maryland and Virginia

David Alpert to Step Down at Greater Greater Washington

Leadership change is coming to one of the best local sources of planning news in the country, after Greater Greater Washington founder and executive director David Alpert announced plans to move on.

July 16, 2020 - Greater Greater Washington

Salt Lake City

20 Years Later: Envision Utah's Quality Growth Strategy Deemed a Massive Success

The state of Utah created Envision Utah in the late 1990s to address growth while maintaining quality of life and protecting the environment in the state. The plan set goals for 2020, so it's time to evaluate its success.

July 16, 2020 - The Salt Lake Tribune

Infrastructure

Trump's Latest Deregulatory Itch: The National Environmental Policy Act

In a move called "one of the biggest — and most audacious — deregulatory actions of the Trump administration," President Trump yesterday announced plans to weaken the National Environmental Policy Act for federal infrastructure projects.

July 16, 2020 - The New York Times

New York Development

What Are Zoning Codes?

Local governments use zoning codes to define what can and cannot be built. While comprehensive plans and other kinds of plans lay out a vision for the future, zoning codes offer the legal tools to implement that vision.

July 15, 2020 - James Brasuell

Cincinnati, Ohio

Past Civil Unrest Sets the Table for Today's Gentrification

The story is similar in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Miami, Cincinnati, and Boston: scenes of widespread destruction—the fires, looting, and property damage of civil unrest—sow the seeds for redevelopment and gentrification.

July 15, 2020 - The New York Times

Cities for People

Jan Gehl on 60 Years of Designing Cities for People

The 10th anniversary of "Cities for People" offers the occasion for this interview with Jan Gehl, who has devoted a 60-year career to ideas about humanistic city planning—ideas of increasing relevance in 2020.

July 15, 2020 - Jan Gehl

African American

New Homes Selling Like Hotcakes

New homes, located mostly on the fringe of developed areas, are selling at a torrid pace this summer.

July 14, 2020 - CNBC

Choice Neighborhoods

Lawyers Connect Breonna Taylor's Murder to Choice Neighborhoods Initiative in Louisville

The lawyers for Breonna Taylor accuse police in Louisville of acting on behalf of a redevelopment plan led by the city with funding support from the federal government.

July 14, 2020 - Louisville Courier Journal

COVID-19

Resurgence Delayed—or a Pandemic Exodus?

In this interview with Emily Badger of the New York Times, Natalie Moore of WBEZ Chicago, and Amanda Kolson Hurley of Bloomberg Businessweek, Slate's Henry Grabar asks about the future viability of America's cities and suburbs in a time of COVID-19

July 14, 2020 - Slate

Florida Retirement Community

The Stage for Trump's Racist Tweet: The Villages, Florida

The Villages is one of the strangest, and most significant, planning and development stories in recent memory—with surprisingly regular relevance in the media and numerous intersections to politics and culture.

July 13, 2020 - James Brasuell

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.