History / Preservation
The Rise And Fall of Cities
Victor David Hanson uses a broad historical perspective to examine the causes of the rise and fall of former world cities. He argues that the computer driven, global age will accelerate the process of growth and decline.
Bing on Detroit, 18 Months into Office
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has been in office for a year and a half. Some progress in the troubled city has been made, but much work remains, as is revealed in this interview.
New Orleans Biomedical Campus Ignites Preservation Battle
Mark Guarino investigates the controversial construction of an expansive new development in the historic Lower Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans.
Hong Kong Struggles To Hold On To Its Roots
Hong Kong's oldest living resident, the banyan tree, once lined entire streets in the city and provided an iconic presence that many enjoyed and many felt classified as a nuisance. Now, due to urban expansion, only a cluster of twenty trees remain.
A Giant of a Book on Urban Design
Ben Brown reviews Dhiru Thadani's new book, The Language of Towns and Cities. Weighing in at 800 pages, this encyclopedic urban design dictionary defines planning terms with extensive graphics.
Indonesians Create a Replica Of Singapore To Escape Congestion
Indonesia cities are the product of sparse planning, floods, overdevelopment, brownouts and epic traffic jams magnified by the dearth of public transit. In response, private planned cities like CitraLand's Singapore of Surabaya are growing rapidly.
Abandonment and Perseverance in Cleveland
Basketball star LeBron James was the king of Cleveland. Then he left town -- a move that says a lot about the city's past and its future.
Preserving Weeksville, The First Community of Free, Black Americans
Three buildings have survived from Weeksville, despite being located in bustling Brooklyn. A $32 million museum and community center will open next summer at the site.
Reforesting the Vietnamese Warzone
Jungles blasted clear during the Vietnam war four decades ago are now at the center of a debate in the country about how forests should be recovered.
Discovering What Lies Beneath Seattle
As Seattle prepares to undertake several major construction projects, the city should embrace and explore its buried archaeological past as a means to involve community members and spark interest in local history, argues Knute Berger.
Development as Preservation
Preservation laws often ban additions to designated buildings, which can be counterproductive, says Stephen Smith, who argues that incremental add-ons can protect buildings from future redevelopment driven by market forces.
The Modern-Day Reality of New Deal Utopias
This slideshow from Design Observer takes a look at New Deal-era utopian cities as they exist today.
A Look at the World's Most Walkable Cities
NRDC's Kaid Benfield offers a photographic look at the 10 most walkable cities in the world, as chosen by Frommer's.
Would You Adopt a Bridge?
The Indiana Dept. of Transportation is attempting to preserve bridges around the state, but don't have the funding to do so. Following the model of other states, they're asking locals who care about the bridges to "adopt" them.
Permanent Infrastructure in a Temporary City
Millions have been in the tent city of Mina in Mecca for the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Though the crowds are temporary, the infrastructure built to handle them is permanent.
Top 10 Books - 2011
Planetizen is pleased to release its ninth annual list of the ten best books in urban planning, design and development published in 2010. This year's selection includes some big names, some big ideas -- and a book called "Toilet."
Watershed States
This post from GOOD points to an old map of the Western U.S. in which state lines are redrawn based on the locations of watersheds.
High Speed Rail Versus Historic Tree
A historic tree near the campus of Stanford University is the centerpiece of a fight to redirect California's planned high speed rail project.
World Heritage Status for Canadian "Utopia"?
A master-planned town in Quebec built by an American industrialist as a "workingman's utopia" is being touted as a potential UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Historic Barns Disappearing
A 2007 agricultural census found 33,762 barns in Ohio, but commentator Alan Miller says that those barns are quickly disappearing, ravaged by neglect or picked apart for salvage. Miller says something must be done to save this heritage.
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.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
