New York

The Red Cedar: a Resilient and Adaptive Urban Pioneer

Dave Taft pens an ode to the merits of the red cedar—a common tree in New York City and dry, empty lots all over the East.

February 21, 2015 - New York Times

Accepting a Deadly Daily Commute

Responding to the New York train crash that killed six this month, Sam Tanenhaus reflects on how commuting got so dangerous and why we don't demand better.

February 21, 2015 - The New Yorker

Judge Evicts Rent-Stabilized Tenant for Listing on Airbnb

A judge's ruling in New York has evicted a rent-stabilized tenant in Hell's Kitchen. Renters might want to reconsider the terms of their lease before listing their apartments for rent—especially if they live in a rent stabilized apartment.

February 20, 2015 - New York Post

Shot by Shot, Brooklyn Histories Revealed

To build ties to its neighbors, a young arts organization embarked on a sprawling multimedia project exploring the past and present of Williamsburg's Latino community.

February 20, 2015 - Satellite Magazine

The Best and the Worst Airports to Access

If you want great access to an airport, go overseas—that's the main finding of a study by Golden Gateway Alliance, a Manhattan-based airport advocacy organization. Tied for dead-last in terms of access is Denver and a certain New York airport.

February 17, 2015 - New York Post

New York City Construction

Affordable Housing: the Hype and the Hope

Sam Hall Kaplan elucidates the inadequacies of affordable housing policy before introducing a new perspective to the conversation—a new book by Roger Katan with Ronald Shiffman called "Building Together."

February 17, 2015 - Sam Hall Kaplan

Unaffordable, Growing Cities Lag on New Housing Permits

Stephen Smith follows up on an earlier report of New York City housing permits with a report on the entire metropolitan area. Included for comparison are the numbers of housing permit filings for metropolitan areas around the country.

February 15, 2015 - New York YIMBY

A Valentine's Day Message from Diversity Plaza in New York City

We at Planetizen hope that there's lots of love in your day today.

February 14, 2015 - StreetsBlog NYC

Will Upzoning Destroy the Beaux Arts Legacy of Midtown Manhattan?

A development proposal for a 1,450 glass skyscraper adjacent to Grand Central Station prompted the Architectural Record to wonder whether New York is chipping away the "Beaux Arts heart" of Manhattan.

February 13, 2015 - Architectural Record

Op-Ed: New York's Affordable Housing More Corrupt than Helpful

A columnist takes the recent scandal involving disgraced former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver as a particularly heinous example of how far astray affordable housing policy is from its intended goal.

February 12, 2015 - Real Clear Policy

A bus next to the re-located light rail station at Denver's Union Station

Trains Are Always Better than Buses, Right?

Josh Barro provide examples galore of why the answer to that question isn't always yes—where costly rail investment has been to the detriment of existing transit. His column targets proposed projects, such as New York's LaGuardia Airport AirTrain.

February 11, 2015 - New York Times - The Upshot

Report: Balance Needed for New York's Manhattan-Centric Transit System

The Regional Plan Association released a report this week finding New York's transit system to be irrationally skewed toward Manhattan service. The report proposes a list of capital projects to correct the imbalance.

February 11, 2015 - Regional Plan Association

Renters Predominate in Low-Cost and High-Cost Cities

A report by New York University’s Furman Center found that renters made up the majority of households in nine of the 11 largest cities in the U.S. in 2013, up from five in 2006. The demand is straining the supply of rental housing.

February 10, 2015 - The Wall Street Journal

Proposal would Lower New York's Gas Prices by Cutting the Gas Tax

Call it $2 gas price envy. Though New York gas prices have dropped $1.20 from a year ago, they are also 25-cents above the national average. State Sen. Jim Seward hopes to spark a statewide movement to reduce prices by reducing state gas taxes.

February 9, 2015 - All Otsego.com

How New York's Luxury Housing Market Stashes Anonymous Foreign Wealth

The New York Times ran a massive feature documenting the rise of foreign real estate investment in New York City, enabled by the anonymity of limited liability corporations.

February 9, 2015 - The New York Times

Measuring Brainwaves to Map the Stress Level of Bike Routes

Anyone who uses a bike to navigate their city knows that every ride has stretches that are much more stressful than others. A new project collects data from brainwaves to map the stress levels of bikers in New York City.

February 8, 2015 - Wired

Examining Rail's Safety Record after Metro-North's Worst Crash

A column in The Week argues that notwithstanding Tuesday's horrific crash of a Metro-North train that killed five passengers, rail is a much safer mode than driving. However, rail deaths are increasing.

February 8, 2015 - The Week

Poking around the New York Subway for Germs

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College have spent the last 18 months scouring the New York Subway in the search for a DNA profile of the system. They even created a map of the 15,152 microbes they found.

February 6, 2015 - Science Daily

The Return of the Ferry to the Big Apple—to All Five Boroughs

Ferries, New York City's first commuter mode, will return big-time if Mayor Bill de Blasio gets his way. Judging by how well the proposal in his February 3 State of the City address was received, he will.

February 6, 2015 - The New York Times - N.Y. / Region

Parks—or Playgrounds for Billionaires?

New York may be the most famous example of the parks becoming the most conspicuous signifiers of neighborhoods for the haves, versus the have-nots, but Inga Saffron hopes that cities everywhere can find ways to even the playing fields.

February 4, 2015 - The New Republic

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

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A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.