United States

Shantytowns, USA

The economic crisis is leading to a surge in homelessness and the growth of tent cities in many U.S. cities.

March 26, 2009 - New York Times

Reinventing Infrastructure with Tech

According to Kazys Varnelis, architects should spend less time worrying about the little funding that the stimulus allots to highways and rail, and spending more time focusing on new technologies that supplement typical infrastructure.

March 25, 2009 - The Architect's Newspaper

Amory Lovins and the 2,000 Watt Society

WorldChanging interviews Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, discussing the 2,000 watt lifestyle proposed by the Swiss and his recent letter to Secretary Steven Chu.

March 25, 2009 - WorldChanging

Sustaining the New Urbanism

New urbanists ponder how they can adapt to the new economic climate and avoid the fate of their predecessors.

March 25, 2009 - New Urban News

2010 Census Outreach to Target the Foreclosed and Immigrants

Increased ethnic and language diversity, combined with widespread housing abandonment will make data gathering for the 2010 Census especially challenging.

March 24, 2009 - CBS News

Signs of Spring for Smart Growth

The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that President Obama signed on Feb. 17 left advocates of compact and transit-oriented development practically biting their tongues.

March 24, 2009 - New Urban News

Rectilinear Grids Make a Comeback

In these austere times, some urbanists are advocating greater use of the traditional rectilinear grid — an efficient, less expensive, but also challenging pattern.

March 23, 2009 - New Urban News

O'Toole Says Trains Are For Tourists

Randall O'Toole- in a curiously non-audio opinion piece from NPR- says that trains around the world are fun but are otherwise overly expensive transportation systems used mainly by the elite.

March 23, 2009 - NPR

Governor: Toughest Job in America?

Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer says that as a result of outmoded industrial and funding models, state governments are facing grave financial problems.

March 23, 2009 - Slate

Suburban Voices Needed At White House

This piece from Robert E. Lang and Lawrence Levy calls for President Barack Obama to include suburban voices in his administration's policy discussions about urban issues.

March 23, 2009 - Citiwire

Second Homes Flood Rental Market

Owners of second homes are leaning harder on these properties to bring in income, but are finding the market for vacation rentals more complicated than it used to be.

March 23, 2009 - The New York Times

Smart Grid Needs State Cooperation

Smart rates that reflect the variability of energy demand will be an essential aspect of smart electricity grid, according to experts. To get there, states will have to make some changes.

March 22, 2009 - Stateline

Tough Road For Office of Urban Affairs

Neal Peirce looks at the daunting challenges facing the new White House Office of Urban Affairs.

March 22, 2009 - Citiwire

A New Era of National Planning?

Planetizen blogger Rob Goodspeed looks back to America's past to find examples of effective national planning that could be applied today.

March 21, 2009 - The Goodspeed Update

Recycling Programs Hurt by Recession

The market for recyclables has taken a sharp nosedive in recent months, challenging cities' ability to provide recycling services.

March 21, 2009 - CNN

Kunstler Predicts Extinction of City Planning

In a discussion about how graveyards fit into new forms of urbanism, James Howard Kunstler predicts that city planning departments are not long for this world.

March 20, 2009 - Whistling Past the Graveyard

Protecting Renters from the Foreclosure Crisis

Renters are the hidden victims of the foreclosure crisis: they are usually the last to know about foreclosure, have few resources to assist them and are being overlooked by federal interventions. But community organizers are fighting back.

March 20, 2009 - Dollars and Sense

Clean Coal Stimulus Funds Put To Work In Indiana

Duke Energy hopes to tap $3.4 billion of stimulus funds to build the nation's first clean coal plant, burning the coal in a gaseous form and storing the CO2 emissions. It already has received federal funds to build the $2.35 coal power plant in IN.

March 20, 2009 - The New York Times: Energy & Environment

The News Hour Reports On Public Transit In Peril

"Blueprint America" looks at declining public transit subsidies and resulting transit service cuts. The video and report follows two East Bay commuters on suburban bus, BART; the transit agency meeting where bus service is reduced; MUNI LRT footage.

March 20, 2009 - PBS-The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

Playing Catch-Up with Rail

Have high-speed rail stimulus funds put us any closer to technology like mag-lev? A long record of underfunding makes many of such projects shovel-unready, but hopes are still high.

March 19, 2009 - Miller-McCune

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.