Jonathan Nettler has lived and practiced in Boston, Washington D.C., San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles on a range of project types for major public, institutional, and private developer clients including: large scale planning and urban design, waterfront and brownfield redevelopment, transit-oriented development, urban infill, campus planning, historic preservation, zoning, and design guidelines.
Jonathan is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and serves on the Board of Directors for the Los Angeles section of the American Planning Association (APA) as the Vice Director for Professional Development. He is also active in local volunteer organizations. Jonathan's interests include public participation in the planning and design process, the intersection between transportation, public health and land use, and the ways in which new ideas and best practices get developed, discussed, and dispersed.
Jonathan previously served as Managing Editor of Planetizen and Project Manager/Project Planner for Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn (EE&K) Architects. He received a Master of Arts degree in Architecture from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Boston University.
APA 2013: Dispatches from Chicago
This year's host for the APA National Conference, themed "Plan Big," is the city that virtually invented modern big picture planning. But what does Chicago's seeming inability to plan comprehensively say about the state of contemporary planning?
Hoping to Land Public Housing in D.C.? Be Ready to Wait 39 Years
On Friday, the D.C. Housing Authority mercifully closed its insultingly long public housing waiting list. With the average rent at $1,759/month for a one-bedroom apartment, the need for affordable housing in the city is tremendous.
How Will Once-Sleepy Santa Monica Weather a Wave of New Development?
With an "unprecedented" amount of development applications waiting for review, and the impending arrival of light rail linking to downtown L.A., seaside Santa Monica is growing up, literally. Sam Lubell examines the city's "development tsunami."
Chicago's Infrastructure Trust: A Guide for Funding Projects, or Building Bad Deals?
Tim Logan dives deep on Mayor Rahm Emanuel's bold plan to help fund Chicago's infrastructure improvements with private capital. American cities need new ways to pay for projects, but can a city with a history of making bad deals provide the road map?

L.A. Looks Ugly; But Is That So Wrong?
The quality of L.A.'s public structures falls far below its remarkable private residences. Greg Goldin argues why we should see the beauty in its greatest creations: its infrastructure and evolving collection of noisy storefronts.