Urban Development

Can Seattle Build 20,000 Affordable Units in 10 Years?

Frank Chiachiere provides some advice on how Seattle can achieve its ambitious goals for affordable housing over the next decade: build transit to places where land is less expensive.

April 10, 2015 - Seattle Transit Blog

Los Angeles Releases Ambitious 'Sustainable City Plan'

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has ambitious plans to modernize the city. This week his administration laid out a sweeping sustainability agenda on matters of critical importance to the future of the nation's second largest city.

April 9, 2015 - Los Angeles Daily News

TOD Sign

Quality Public Transit Benefits Land Use Outcomes

New research quantifies public transit impacts on urban development patterns, and resulting benefits. Current transit services reduces U.S. urban land consumption by 27 percent, which reduces VMT, fuel consumption and pollution emissions 8 percent.

April 9, 2015 - Quantifying Transit’s Impact on GHG Emissions and Energy Use—The Land Use Component

Visioning Edges in Cities, and the Spaces Beyond

In an inspirational essay about the undeveloped boundaries of the public domain (such as street-ends), Chuck Wolfe urges innovation in city spaces where we "blend the familiar with the edge of the unknown."

April 9, 2015 - The Huffington Post

Preservation and Revitalization in Latin America

Urban city centers have been decaying for years in Latin America, however, with renewed interest by Latin American governments, these city cores are once again being revitalized. Arup Connect spoke with urban design leader Pablo Lazo to learn how.

April 8, 2015 - Arup Connect

Fall Sprawl

Study: Transit, Density Can't Overcome Sprawl on Carbon Emissions

A new study explains how building new transit and density along transit corridors isn't enough alone to reduce carbon emissions in metropolitan areas.

April 8, 2015 - Climate Central

Minneapolis Green Line University of Minnesota

Minneapolis' New Urbanism Success Story

A case study in how New Urbanist principles helped transform the neighborhood around the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

April 8, 2015 - Streets.MN

Recession Success Story: Walkable Commercial Areas

New data show the resilience of walkable commercial areas through the recent recession. Parking minimums, however, prevent new projects from taking advantage of the strengths of such development patterns.

April 8, 2015 - Vox

Developer Owned Utilities Struggle to Manage the Cost of Water in Northern Arizona

The Arizona Daily Sun details the curious case of subdivision development, private utilities, and skyrocketing utility rates that linger as an effect of the last development cycle of boom and bust.

April 7, 2015 - Arizona Daily Sun

New Life for Hotels in Downtown Detroit

A new talking point to support the idea of a comeback for Detroit: brisk business and new investment in the Downtown hotel market.

April 7, 2015 - Detroit Free Press

New York Reconsiders Air Rights for Landmarks

An old idea has new life in the de Blasio Administration—less restrictive air rights regulations for landmarks like St. Patrick's Cathedral.

April 7, 2015 - The Wall Street Journal

More Evidence of Smart Growth Savings

Analysis of incremental tax revenues and public service costs of various development patterns in Madison, Wisconsin indicates significant economic savings from more compact land use. Modest increases in density can provide large fiscal benefits.

April 7, 2015 - The Fiscal Implications of Development Patterns

New York Zoning Amendments to Speed Sandy Recovery Efforts

The city of New York is still working to support property owners in their recovery from Hurricane Sandy—as well as their preparation for the next extreme weather event. The zoning code is one area in need of improvement.

April 7, 2015 - New York Department of City Planning

Tampa

Inside Tampa's New Urbanism Makeover

The Tampa Bay Times dives into New Urbanism with an interview of Jeff Speck and Dvid Dixon about their work on the $1 billion transformation of Tampa's downtown waterfront.

April 6, 2015 - Tampa Bay Times

U.S. EPA Announces 2014 Energy Star Top Cities: D.C. Tops

A U.S.EPA list ranks the cities leading the nation with the most energy efficient commercial buildings.

April 6, 2015 - U.S. EPA

The Station at Potomac Yard

A Mixed-Use Fire Station? Challenging the Limits of Mixed-Use Development

A visual essay exploring the emerging Potomac Yard neighborhood in Alexandria, VA and how one innovative project reinterprets the traditional definition of mixed-use development.

April 3, 2015 - Plan.Place

A Primer on Parklets in San Francisco: Past, Present, Future

The San Francisco Chronicle's urban design critic, John King, knows his San Francisco parklets—from the first ones that started the nationwide urban movement five years ago, to the ones currently in the hopper at the city planning office.

April 2, 2015 - San Francisco Chronicle

Latino Neighborhood

Can Gentrification Integrate Neighborhoods?

Hector Tobar argues that despite the well-documented ills of gentrification, under the right circumstances it can eat into long decades of racial segregation. Eastern Los Angeles may be a prime test case.

April 2, 2015 - New York Times

Urbanism: Nothing to Fear

Scott Bernstein, president of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, talks planes, trains, and automobiles, in an urban industrial context.

April 2, 2015 - PlaceShakers

Mta Rfp Tod

The MTA Released an RFP for TOD—What Happened Next Will Make you OMG

A true tale of two press releases, separated by more than five years.

April 1, 2015 - Planetizen April 1st Edition

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.