Josh Stephens is the former editor of, and current contributing editor to, the California Planning & Development Report, the state's leading publication covering urban planning. Josh formerly edited The Planning Report and the Metro Investment Report, monthly publications covering, respectively, land use and infrastructure in Southern California.
As a freelance writer, Josh has contributed to Next American City, InTransition magazine, Planning Magazine, Sierra Magazine, and Volleyball Magazine. Josh also served as vice president of programs for the Westside Urban Forum, a leading civic organization on L.A.'s fashionable and dynamic Westside. Josh also served as editorial page editor of The Daily Princetonian and, briefly, the editor of You Are Here: The Journal of Creative Geography while he studied geography at the University of Arizona. He earned his BA in English from Princeton University and his master's in public policy from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
Josh can often be found gazing from high vantage points wondering what it all means.
Re-Zoning For Walkability
It often seems that streetscapes' appearances and forms are immutable, but Los Angeles is trying something new. Through a herculean effort called Recode: LA, Los Angeles is rewriting its codes and, consequently, may change how its streets look.
Beyond Eternal: Identifying The World's Oldest City
Cities from India to Syria to Hungary can claim to be the world's oldest continually inhabited city, with permanent habitation going back more than 4,000 years. But when the evidence is thousands of years old, the title becomes elusive.
Age Of Water Scarcity Arrives In Brazil
Ecologists and planners have been warning that water may be the oil of the 21st century. With oil prices plunging, water is getting more dear in some places. Sao Paulo, Brazil's great megacity and economic heart, is already facing a dire shortage.
The Shortcomings of 'Family Friendliness' Rankings
Many rankings try to tell parents where the best places are to raise their kids. But measures that focus solely on narrow criteria like safety and schools often ignore the benefits of diverse, vibrant urban environments.
What Are North America's Most 'Youthified' Cities?
Gentrification has famously, and controversially, changed the face of many neighborhoods. Less well known is the process that geographer Markus Moos calls "youthification," in which neighborhoods don't become richer so much as they become younger.