Land Use
A Guide to Capturing Arresting Urban Photos
Vexed in your attempts to capture the true character of a place through photographs? Richard I'Anson shares the secrets to taking great city snapshots.
How Can We Cultivate Transformative Urban Ideas?
Civic Entrepreneurs, or 'Visionistas', are the dedicated, creative, and perhaps a little crazy, citizens who dream up big ideas for transforming a city, or their piece of it. Otis White suggests how we can encourage such dreamers to become doers.
Back from the Dead? New Mall Revitalizes Downtown Salt Lake City
Wasn't the era of the shopping mall supposed to be over? City Creek Center, the retractable roof-topped luxury shopping center financed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is being credited with breathing new life into Salt Lake City.
Mapping Slums to Shape Them
A mapping effort led by a group of cartographers called the Spatial Collective is helping to make visible what it's like to live in the Nairobi slum of Mathare. By giving form to the informal settlement, its problems are being made evident.
How Should Industry be Integrated Into the Urban Fabric?
Are we on the brink of a third industrial revolution? Guest 'PlaceShaker' Scott Bernstein thinks maybe, and looks to past successes for key patterns and ideas for injecting walkability into areas with industrial or 'special' uses.
Big Solar: It's Green vs. Green
No form of energy production comes without controversy, including solar, despite it being renewable. In advance of the world's largest solar thermal plant opening in Calif's Mojave Desert, KQED's Lauren Sommer shows both sides of the green debate.
Are NIMBYs to Blame for California's Housing Woes?
According to economist Christopher Thornberg, sky-high housing prices in California indicate a state suffering from an acute housing shortage. In an op-ed for the LA Times, he argues that local interest groups and "populist politicians" are to blame.
Trail Conversion Exposes Boston Area's Hidden Infrastructure
Where the Boston area's water supply once gushed, pedestrians and bikes will now flow thanks to a plan to repurpose the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority's aqueducts as public spaces.
Are Vancouver's Leaders 'Tone-Deaf' to Residents' Vision for the City?
After less than a year on the job, Vancouver's planning manager is under fire for controversial proposals. Do the recent misfires reflect poor messaging, tight budgets, and short timelines; or a more fundamental problem with the city's leaders?
America's Most Effective Urban Revitalization Incentives Under Threat
The low-income housing and new-markets tax credits are two of the most effective tools for stimulating affordable housing creation and the revitalization of low-income neighborhoods. Don't let them fall victim to tax reform, argues Michael Rubinger.
L.A.'s Downtown Building Boom Comes Up Short
A rising chorus of architects, urban planners and developers are criticizing the suburban scale of development sweeping through downtown L.A. as a missed opportunity. They argue high-rises should be built instead of mid-rise apartment complexes.
Is Your Project Transit-Oriented or Merely Transit-Adjoining?
As many planners know, building next to transit doesn't guarantee a project will have the ridership boosting effects envisioned by proponents of such developments. A new tool seeks to provide an objective measurement of TOD effectiveness.
Could Carless Cities Be On the Horizon?
As plans to pedestrianize UK city centers gain steam, Lord Richard Rogers, architect of the Pompidou Centre and advisor on urbanism issues to successive London mayors, has predicted a widespread ban on cars in London within 20 years.
D.C. Backtracks on Parking Reform
Opponents to a proposal to eliminate parking minimums in certain areas of D.C. have been heard. In order to smooth approval of the city's massive zoning overhaul, planners will reduce minimums in some areas rather than eliminate them.
Rebuilding in Flood Plains - It's Difficult to Resist
Reporting from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where a 2008 flood devastated 14% of this city of 126,000, John Eligon writes of the extensive rebuilding that has occurred in the flood plain - largely without protection from future floods.
Cleveland Mulls Massive Rails-to-Trails Conversion
In addition to Philadelphia, Chicago, and Jersey City, add Cleveland to the list of cities inspired by New York's High Line to consider converting its old rail infrastructure into an open space amenity.
Are D.C. Planners Missing the Forest for the Trees With Redevelopment Efforts?
Seemingly forgotten in D.C.'s rush to revitalize its once run-down neighborhoods is the allocation of new parks and open space, says Aaron Wiener. Are planners repeating the same mistake in the transitioning Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood?
Big Plans for Bike Parking Take Shape
We've recently looked at the shortage of bike parking plaguing cities like Amsterdam. Designers are on the case, inventing 'ingenious ideas' for parking all those bikes. Ben Schiller looks at five of the best.
Rotten Apple: Noise Pollution Spoils Life for New Yorkers
The fact that New York is loud is unlikely to surprise anyone. But despite decades of noise abatement efforts, the contributors to noise pollution keep multiplying. As scientists recognize the multitude of negative health impacts, what can be done?
Master Planning is Back; Thank an Architect
In a feature article and provocative editorial, The Architect's Newspaper seeks to examine the lead role that architects are playing in 'laying out the future of cities'.
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
