United States

Density Can Drive Prosperity

David Roberts at Grist argues that density doesn't just have those hippie benefits like improving the environment or creating communities - it also can create engines of prosperity and economic growth.

May 31, 2011 - Grist

New Report: Measuring Pedestrian Safety in the U.S.

Transportation for America (TfA), a campaign to strengthen the nation’s transportation network, released an update to its “Dangerous by Design” report, an analysis of pedestrian safety in the design and use of American streets.

May 31, 2011 - TheCityFix.com

Affordable Housing Gets Energy Retrofit in Boston

Castle Square Apartments in Boston is currently being retrofitted in what is said to be the largest energy savings project of its kind. The low-income housing towers are receiving $6.7 million from HUD's Recovery Act Green Retrofit Program.

May 31, 2011 - Metropolis Magazine

EPA, DOT Release New Fuel Economy Stickers for New Cars

The new stickers offer significantly more useful information for comparing a new vehicle's gas mileage to other cars, including how much a year's worth of gas will cost you and the impact of that car on the environment.

May 30, 2011 - Fast Company

Absurd Safety in Playgrounds Causing Accidents

Planner Sharon Danks says that as playgrounds become less challenging due to concerns over liability, kids invent their own, far more dangerous uses for the equipment.

May 30, 2011 - Grist

How to Give Your Main Street a Facelift

Larisa Ortiz Pu-Folkes gives some tips for creating an effective facade inprovement program, focusing on making it easier for building owners and merchants to access and take advantage of the funds.

May 30, 2011 - The Commercial District Advisor

LEED-ND For The Layperson

The Natural Resources Defense Council has prepared a 44-page 'Citizen's Guide' to the green building principles contained in the LEED-Neighborhood Development rating system for the layperson and organizations to apply in their own neighborhoods.

May 29, 2011 - The Atlantic

BRT Boom in U.S.

A new study says that Los Angeles, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Eugene and Pittsburgh are leading the surge with the best bus rapid transit (BRT) systems in the nation.

May 28, 2011 - The Institute of Transportation and Development Policy

Friday Funny: How to Pick Up an Urban Planner

Cartoonist Emily says that urban planners are "some of the sexiest, smartest, wittiest individuals you'll ever meet," and offers these tips for sly pickup lines that can't miss with the planning crowd.

May 27, 2011 - Tim Halbur

Preparing for the Next Housing Boom

Richard Reep explains how developers, contractors, and even home-buyers in Florida contributed to the growth for growth's sake attitude which has left the Florida landscape littered with poorly built condos and plenty of lessons to be learned.

May 27, 2011 - New Geography

The Bus and The Train Are Friends

Bus rapid transit has seen a recent spike in interest, and with that interest has come the analysis that BRT takes away from light rail projects and vice versa. But as this post points out, they need each other and work better when both are around.

May 27, 2011 - the transport politic

Report Exposes Wisconsin Governor's "Highway Boondoggles"

Since rejecting $800 million in federal funds for HSR, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has proposed four new highway projects (estimated at a potential cost of $2 billion).

May 26, 2011 - U.S. Pirg

Urban Life, In Dance

Choreographer Jenni Bregman studied human use and interaction in urban areas to create her latest dance piece, "Intimate City."

May 25, 2011 - The Polis Blog

Making Safer Streets for Aging Populations

As aging populations grow, more cities and design organizations are looking at how to make streets safer for older residents.

May 25, 2011 - NPR

U.S. Builds Roads That Kill Pedestrians

A new report from Transportation for America says that more than half of pedestrian fatalities happen on arterial roads that lack ped-friendly design - and therefore are preventable.

May 24, 2011 - Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Swimming Pool Heated by Waste Heat from Cremations

Crematories produce a lot of waste heat. Is it sacrilegious to recycle that excess heat to warm a swimming pool, as is the plan in Redditch, England?

May 24, 2011 - Miller-McCune

Data Reveals Big Cities Safer Than Ever Before

Even amid a stalled economy, new data from the FBI reports that big cities, those with a population of at least one million, are seeing huge declines in crime.

May 24, 2011 - The Atlantic

The Expense of Tax-Increment Financing

A new report from the Cato Institute says that tax-increment financing (TIFs) costs taxpayers $10 billion a year and the practice is growing by the minute.

May 24, 2011 - The Antiplanner

Gas Prices Fueling Political Squabbles

The highest gas prices since the summer of 2008 have the two political parties taking separate approaches toward the oil industry - each showing how effective they are at killing each other's plans.

May 23, 2011 - The New York Times - Editorial

A Sea of Humanity

A look at the pedestrian scramble in the Shibuya District of Tokyo, Japan.

May 23, 2011 - Los Angeles Times

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.