Land Use
A Guide to Great Streets
Using examples of exceptional streets from diverse settings across the world, Kaid Benfield tries to tease out what makes a great city street.
The Politics of Zoning Reform: Know Your Audience
In a blog post for Better! Cities & Towns, Susan Henderson compiles a comprehensive list of the types of personalities that must be brought on board to navigate the politics of zoning reform.
Are Efforts to Improve the Livability of China's Cities Hurting the Country's Economy?
As China continues to mature into a developed nation, efforts aimed at making its largest cities more environmentally sustainable and healthy may be putting a damper on the country's economic growth.
New Tool for Tallying the Costs of Sprawl
The State of New Hampshire has created an interactive online tool for its municipalities to examine the impacts of different land use scenarios, in the hopes of promoting smart growth. Geneva Faulkner describes how it works.
What Defines a City?
As anyone who's raised an eyebrow upon hearing that Los Angeles is technically more dense than New York can attest, making city-to-city comparisons can be a confounding endeavor. Nate Berg goes in search of a uniform way to define the city.
Can New York Protect its Dive Bars?
Over the past couple of decades, Manhattan's ruthless redevelopment has transformed neighborhoods up and down the island. In the East Village, local leaders are trying to defend the area's popular dive bars from rising rents and changing clientele.
Walkable Urbanism Sets the Pace for Real Estate Recovery
As the real estate market comes back to life, walkable urbanism is poised to become the dominant mode of development across America. Emily Badger explains why Washington D.C.'s land use evolution portends the future of cities everywhere.
Aging Boomers Changing the Shape of Cities Across America
It's not just the Sun Cities of America that are planning for how to meet the needs of the country's coming bulge in its over-65 population. Ryan Holeywell highlights how some cities are adapting their built environments for an aging population.
Public Spaces Provide Path to Improving Life in Global Slums
The Project for Public Spaces (PPS), who have been working with UN-HABITAT on sustainable urbanization, describe why establishing public spaces can be even more important to improving the world's slums than providing power or clean water.
Creative Placemaking Gets Infusion of New Funding
Creative placemaking, or investing in arts and culture as a way to improve quality of place and stimulate vibrancy, is getting a new boost as ArtPlace announces another round of funding.
Creative Class Cannibalization
Richey Piiparinen discusses the "Frankenstein effects" of place-making, in which, he argues, the diversity of people and place that attracts the creative class is eventually forced out by those in search of the "highest and best use."
Areas for Fresh Air Rare in Mumbai
A new study documents exactly how deprived of access to open space the 13 million residents of Mumbai are. The numbers are grim, especially when compared to other cities around the world, and even in India, reports Neha Thirani.
Demobilizing the "War on Cars"
Herb Caudill explains why the need to plan for a range of transportation modes and uses of space in urban environs is common sense - not part of a concerted assault on cars.
Urban Gardening Under Threat in Africa
Urban gardening is sprouting to life across America, but urban locales in the developing world "have incorporated horticulture into their urban planning" for decades. In Africa, urbanization is threatening these essential parts of the food system.
Harvesting Data Essential for Saving Urban Gardens
To preserve the spread of urban gardening, activists are beginning to map and document the many haphazard community gardens to gain recognition from landlords and city officials in hopes of warding off bulldozers.
Anti-Agenda 21 Platform Part of Long Property Rights Tradition
While it might seem like the Agenda 21 conspiracy theorists have arisen quite quickly out of the murky backwaters of the Republican party, Llewellyn Hinkes-Jones traces the lengthy enti-environmentalist roots of the movement.
America's Largest Cities Gamble on Casino-led Growth
An expanding number of cities across the U.S. are looking to attract urban casinos, with the hope that further development and money (tax revenues to fill drained city coffers) will follow.
New Development Seeks to Reclaim Sydney's Position as a Global City
Lew Sichelman reports on the lofty goals being pursued by a new $6.2 billion live/play/work development known as Barangaroo - planned for a 54-acre site in East Darling Harbor - which aims to redefine Sydney.
What Makes a Great Neighborhood?
Howard Blackson explains the five elements ("five Cs") necessary for planning resilient and lively neighborhoods - complete, compact, connected, complex, and convivial.
Dense Re-Vision for D.C.'s Neglected Waterfront Extends onto the Water
A 52-acre development planned for Washington, D.C.'s isolated Southwest Quadrant hopes to create a 21st century waterfront by embracing the elements that have contributed to creating lively urban waterfronts for centuries, reports Kriston Capps.
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
