Urban Planning
'Missing Middle Housing' Website to Fill the Gap Between Supply and Demand
Opticos Design, Inc., the Berkeley-based urban planning and architecture firm has launched a new website dedicated to the missing middle of the housing market.
UN-Habitat Adopts International Guidelines for Urban and Territorial Planning
UN-Habitat has adopted International Guidelines for Urban and Territorial Planning intended to inform the United Nation's New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals.
Data, Communications, and the Future of Urban Mobility
Qualcomm and Arup recently published a report on their vision for the future of connected cities. We spoke to Chris Luebkeman, Arup Fellow and Global Director of Foresight, Research and Innovation, and Qualcomm's Kiva Allgood to learn more.
Why Coding Can Teach Planners How to Be More Creative
I want to learn HTML and CSS, or maybe get a refresher on the current state of web technology—where should I start?
Has the Urban Planning Profession Made You Boring?
Urban planning can be an exciting and rewarding profession. It can also be extremely political and sometimes downright boring.
What is a 'Placemaker' (Besides an Overused Buzzword)?
Placemaking is an overused term and under-comprehended subcategory of the urban design and planning fields. Howard Blackson explains what it means and how it has evolved in his own career.
The Rise of the Development Agreement
The evolution of the development agreement reveals how its proliferation as a land use tool is a symptom of a larger struggle between increasingly complicated land use regulations, the public’s conflicting goals, and developers’ desire for certainty
5 Ways Technology Can Improve Urban Design
Technology is a great benefit for urban design and urban planning. Not only does it help boost productivity for design and urban planning teams, but it also increases team collaboration, citizen engagement, attention to detail, and accuracy.
Land for Vehicles or People?
Automobile-oriented planning requires that cities devote signifiant amounts of space to roads and parking—under many conditions each vehicle requires more land than is devoted to housing per capita.
Who's Right in the Informal Housing Debate?
When Los Angeles County Planner Jonathan P. Bell wrote about informal housing in the region, several commenters responded. So Bell decided to answer questions and critics.
The False Choice in the Gentrification Debate
The income of original residents is more important to the gentrification debate than any opposition to luxury development or price controls. We need to begin to embed income inequality within the gentrification debate.
'History of the Present' Series Examines Profound Urban Transformations
Emerging from a half century of dictatorship, can Myanmar's principal city be a model of sustainable, democratic development?
How Planners Can Help Cities Thrive
For planners, the key to moving a city’s vision for development forward is to value public as well as private investment in projects, according to urban planner and author Howard M. Blackson III.
Are We Approaching Peak Land Use Control?
With an increasing reliance on development regulations and requirements on land owners to satisfy policy goals, are we approaching an unsustainable point in land use controls?
The Future of the Gayborhood
With the advancement of LGBT rights and equality, the traditionally LGBT neighborhood is changing to reflect the tastes and preferences of the new LGBT community within.
How Streets and Social Justice Intersect
A look at how streets affect health, social interaction, and economic development by Marissa Reilly, a Berkeley-based urban planner and Lillian Jacobson, a master’s candidate at MIT.
Should Urban Planners Live in the City?
The Denver Post writes about Brad Buchanan, who in February became the executive director of the Denver Department of Community Planning and Development.
Time to Look at Oakland
While Oakland is by no means an easy place to develop real estate, the often maligned East Bay city of over 400,000 residents may very well be the Bay Area’s best place to embrace much-needed development.
How Coastal Communities Can Adapt to the Effects of Climate Change
Dave Hampton, an architect and a principal at the consulting firm re:ground llc reviews last month’s "MIT Sea Grant’s Climate Change Symposium: Sustaining Coast Cities."
Why Foreign Money is Irrelevant to Increasing Density
While concern over foreign investment in the local real estate market is perfectly valid, the concern is irrelevant to the reasons and need to increase density and the supply of housing.
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
