James Brasuell, AICP is the former editorial director of Planetizen and is now a senior public affairs specialist at the Southern California Association of Governments. James managed all editorial content and direction for Planetizen from 2014 to 2023, and was promoted from manging editor to editorial director in 2021. After a first career as a class five white water river guide in Trinity County in Northern California, James started his career in Los Angeles as a volunteer at a risk reduction center in Skid Row. Prior to joining Planetizen, James worked at the Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental Design, as an editor at Curbed LA, as editor of The Planning Report, and as a freelance contributor for The Architect’s Newspaper, the Urban Land Institute – Los Angeles Chapter, FORM, KCET, and the California Planning & Development Report.
Accommodating D.C.'s Rapid Growth; Heat Map Shows Permits and Construction
Adding 1,100 people every month, Washington D.C. is in the midst of one of the nation’s most powerful examples of population growth. A recently developed heat map shows where supply is being built to meet the new demand.
The Evolving Legacy of New York City Park Design
An interview with Thomas Balsley, landscape architect and designer of hundreds of parks and plazas in New York, reveals inside baseball about the evolution of park design, planning, and approvals in the Big Apple.
Marijuana Cultivation Poses Environmental Threat to Dwindling Salmon Populations
The Northern California marijuana industry is booming, but issues with water consumption and downstream pollution produced by the large-scale cultivation of marijuana are threatening populations of salmon already on the brink of extinction.
What Villaraigosa’s Los Angeles Can Teach de Blasio’s New York
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio enters office with strong progressive credentials, similar to those of Los Angeles’ recently-termed-out Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Can New York find lessons from the Los Angeles political experience?
Road Safety (and Lack thereof) Case Studies from around the World
An inordinate amount of traffic fatalities occur in developing parts of the world. In some countries, road deaths have surpassed diseases like AIDS and Tuberculosis as a public health threat.