United States

Where Does It Make Sense To Buy A Home?

The answer is basically everywhere. Jed Kolko reports on the findings of a new study examining the ratio of home prices to annualized rent in 100 of the largest metropolitan areas in the United State.

March 22, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Reading America Through the Eyes of an Outsider

Gabrielle Esperdy tags along on the travels of Reyner Banham, the British historian and critic of modern architecture and design, connecting them to the great historical travel accounts of Europeans abroad in America.

March 22, 2012 - Places

How Green Building Is Transforming Real Estate

William Pentland notes a crescendo in the clamor for green buildings in the upscale, commercial market.

March 22, 2012 - Forbes

Housing and Resilience

As part of its "Future Tense" initiative with the New America Foundation, Slate is exploring the concept of resilience. In this article, Patrick Doherty makes the case for improving America's resilience by reconsidering suburban development.

March 22, 2012 - Slate.com

Transportation Experts See Bright Future for Rail

Jeff McMahon explores the potential of passenger rail in coming years as automobiles and airplanes "become a little more obsolete."

March 21, 2012 - Forbes

Rethinking Growth-Oriented Planning

David Morley, AICP, asks if growth is a necessary prerequisite for long-term community health and prosperity, and whether it might be possible to rethink "the dominant planning paradigm in the United States."

March 21, 2012 - APA Sustaining Places

Is the Housing Crisis Easing?

Robert Cyran and Agnes T. Crane discuss the changing dynamics of the U.S. housing market and suggest that reduced inventories, pent-up demand and an improved employment outlook may mean more stability.

March 20, 2012 - Slate.com

Cities Reach Out to Private Sector to Solve Fiscal Challenges

Kirk Victor examines the new and risky roads many cities are taking to get immediate access to capital in order to finance their fiscal challenges.

March 20, 2012 - Governing

Poverty Soars in the Suburbs

Lisa McGirr looks at the growing challenge of suburban poverty, which in the last decade has climbed by 25 percent (almost five times faster than cities), and the larger trends that it signifies.

March 20, 2012 - The New York Times

Mapping the Myth of Affordable Housing

The National Low Income Housing Coalition has recently released a map showing their state-by-state findings on housing affordability. And, in no state was a 40-hour work week at minimum wage enough to pay for a two-bedroom unit at Fair Market Rent.

March 20, 2012 - The Washington Post

Oil Drilling Myths Exposed By Paul Krugman

New York Times economics writer and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman analyzes two major reasons for increasing oil drilling - reducing unemployment and lowering gas prices, and describes why it does neither.

March 20, 2012 - The New York Times - The Opinion Pages

Santorum Picks a Fight with Urban America

Sarah Wheaton and Richard A. Oppel Jr. report on a new line of attack against the urban favoring economic policies of his own party, being utilized by Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum in an effort to motivate his followers.

March 19, 2012 - The New York Times

Harvard Study: Cheap Natural Gas Decreased 2009 Climate Emissions

A new report attributes a 9% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions from the nation's power plants in 2009 to the relatively cheap price of generating electricity from natural gas versus coal.

March 19, 2012 - Homeland Security News Wire

The Segregating Effects of the Housing Bubble

Suzy Khimm reports on a new paper that demonstrates that, contrary to widely held beliefs, the country’s top metropolitan areas became more segregated from 1995 to 2006.

March 17, 2012 - The Washington Post

Making Swimming Pools Accessible for All

Judy Woodruff reports on the Department of Justice decision requiring government and private building owners to alleviate architectural barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from taking full advantage of facilities' amenities.

March 17, 2012 - PBS NewsHour

A Wrap Up and Look Ahead on Transportation Reauthorization

Yonah Freemark has authored a comprehensive examination of the policy and process behind the Senate transportation bill passed on Wednesday. But will it come to anything?

March 16, 2012 - the transport politic

The Importance of Gateway Experiences to Punk Rock & Urbanism

Dan Reed cautions against an elitist aversion to sterile and inauthentic "town centers" – for all their supposed faults, they offer a stepping stone for the uninitiated masses to get interested in "true" urbanism.

March 16, 2012 - Greater Greater Washington

NASA Map of Forests Provides Lessons for Information Design

Tim Maly analyses a stunning high-resolution map of America’s forests for its lessons on the subtle choices that go into good visual information design for multiple audiences.

March 15, 2012 - Fast Company Co.Design

Senate Transportation Bill Finally Passes

Enjoying bipartisan support, the Senate's two-year, $109 billion transportation and infrastructure bill was approved by a comfortable 74-22 vote margin this afternoon, reports Jonathan Weisman.

March 14, 2012 - The New York Times

Who Needs a Working Waterfront, Anyway?

The increasing recognition of waterfronts as a recreational and redevelopment asset belies its continued value for trade and industry. Will Doig makes the case for the oft-antagonized shipping industry in the tug-of-war over waterfront real estate.

March 14, 2012 - Salon

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.