Urban Development

Denver's Building Boom Happening on the Fringes

According to a Denver Post article, the Denver metropolitan area has 31,000 homes in the development pipeline. All but 2,600 of those homes would be built in suburban counties surrounding Denver.

March 12, 2015 - Denver Post

Obama Administration Would End Tax-Exempt Bonds for Sports Stadiums

Ending the use of tax-exempt bonds to finance the construction of pro sports facilities has high level support from President Obama's 2016 draft budget, but it's too early to tell if the proposed ban on such financing mechanisms will be approved.

March 12, 2015 - The Wall Street Journal

Arlington's Market-Rate Affordable Housing will Disappear by 2020

Planners have undertaken the task of protecting market-rate affordable housing in Arlington County. The need for action was made clear in an Affordable Housing Study recently released to inform the preparation of a new Affordable Housing Master Plan.

March 12, 2015 - Arl Now

Finding the Right Mix of Uses for Former Industrial Sites

The Philadelphia City Council is tinkering with a novel land use created by its 2012 Zoning Code update to help guide mixed use development on former industrial sites.

March 12, 2015 - PlanPhilly

The Keys to Virginia's Urban Revitalization: Live/Work/Play

An op-ed makes the case for the benefits of mixed-use development in Virginia, namely the creation of 24/7 environments for living, working, and playing.

March 12, 2015 - Virginia Business

Seaside Entrance

The Four Phases of New Urbanism

Robert Steuteville discusses the slow, phased emergence of the New Urbanism. We are only partway through a change that will take generations. We are now immersed in the revitalization of cities. More phases will come.

March 12, 2015 - Better Cities & Towns

Business, Government, and Infrastructure in Brazil

With one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Brazil is at the cusp of major change. Arup's Gustavo Ferreria discusses the role that public-private partnerships are playing in modernizing and expanding the country's infrastructure systems.

March 11, 2015 - Arup Connect

Los Angeles' Plan to Minimize Displacement During Urban Revitalization

Bloomberg Philanthropies will fund an "Innovation Delivery Team" in Los Angeles to approach the challenge of revitalizing urban neighborhoods while also creating improvements for existing populations.

March 10, 2015 - The Planning Report

Project Housing

How a Philadelphia Mayoral Candidate Influenced U.S. Public Housing

Former HUD counsel and current Philadelphia mayoral contender Nelson Diaz laid the groundwork for "entrepreneurial" approaches to public housing. Whether the resulting projects were effective is up for debate.

March 10, 2015 - PlanPhilly

Suburban Office Building

A Deep Dive into Suburban Retrofits

An interview with Ellen Dunham-Jones, co-author of "Retrofitting Suburbia," and Hazel Borys.

March 10, 2015 - PlaceShakers

Teotihuacan

How Ancient and Modern Cities Compare (and Why Planners Should Care)

A new scholarly paper argues that ancient and modern cities can be usefully analyzed in a comparative perspective. But what you do with the comps depends on how much you value similarities versus differences in urban form.

March 9, 2015 - Dean Saitta

Children Playing

A Call for Reimagined Schoolyards

In recent years, tactical urbanism has helped reinvent many streets and sidewalks in center cities, creating new public spaces. But many spaces remain untouched. Anuj Gupta argues that reinvented schoolyards can be the next great public spaces.

March 8, 2015 - Philadelphia Magazine

The Impressive Story of Florida's 15-Year-Old Citizen Planner

Dylan Gentile, a 15-year-old resident of DeFuniak Springs, Florida, offers inspiration in the form of proactive, positive engagement with the built environment, and already an impressive resume of accomplishments.

March 7, 2015 - CityLab

A Case for Putting Kids First

Instead of "Bikers First!" or "Creative Class First!" James Siegel, president of Kaboom!, proposes an alternative for cities: "Kids First!"

March 6, 2015 - Medium

Halifax, Nova Scotia

On the Benefits of Compact Development

The environmental think tank environmental Sustainable Prosperity has created a handy infographic describing the benefits of dense urban development compared to sprawl.

March 6, 2015 - Streetsblog USA

Exploring the Planning History of Downtown Oakland

Oakland, as the urban counterpart to San Francisco in the Bay Area, is on a lot of people's radar as a place to improve on some of the lessons of recent waves of urbanization. What planning precedents shaped the city on the other side of the Bay?

March 6, 2015 - The Urbanist

'Center for Opportunity Urbanism' Think Tank Launched in Houston

A new think tank to promote suburban growth has been established in Houston by arguably the media's highest-profile supporters of suburban growth.

March 5, 2015 - Houston Chronicle

We're All Complicit in Change—Now What?

Be a citizen, not just a consumer.

March 5, 2015 - PlaceShakers

Palo Alto Stalls on Controversial Measure to Cap Commercial Development

In some places, it might be hard to imagine even considering a cap on the development of commercial development. Palo Alto, home to Stanford University and a hot bed of California's tech industry, did just that in City Council earlier this week.

March 4, 2015 - Palo Alto Weekly

Farmers Field

Op-Ed: Terrorism Fears Cloud Los Angeles Stadium Debate

With as many as a half-dozen groups vying to develop an NFL stadium in Los Angeles, things were bound to get ugly. And they did. A report warns of a possible terrorist attack at one stadium site. The report's publisher? Backers of a rival stadium.

March 4, 2015 - California Planning & Development Report

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.

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.