Josh Stephens
Josh Stephens is a contributing editor of the California Planning & Development Report (www.cp-dr.com) and former editor of The Planning Report (www.planningreport.com)
Contributed 302 posts
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.
The Chemistry of Safer, Denser Cities
While the middle class sought the refuge in the suburbs in the 1960s and 1970s, it turns out that the crime they were fleeing had nothing to do with density, race, or even blight. Mother Jones magazine suggest that it was all because of lead.
Shared Hardship and the Souls of Cities
I can't remember the last time I left the house and gave a moment's though to whether I'd be warm enough, or whether I needed to bring an umbrella. Meanwhile, half the East Coast is underwater right now.
Bike Sharing Reaches the West Coast
Long lagging behind European and East Coast cities, cities in California are poised to adopt bike sharing in a big way. Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Francisco and others are adding the popular short-term rental service to their transportation options.
With Policy Changes, Urban Farmers Seek Bountiful Harvest
Riding a tide of environmental consciousness and self-sufficiency, the urban agriculture movement is gaining momentum in California. Urban farmers have been lobbying for zoning and other city regulations to bring an underground hobby into the light.
How to Promote TOD When There's no Room for Infill
Many new light rail lines have been built in western cities in the hopes of attracting new development to greenfields. Los Angeles' Expo Line, however, is threaded through a heavily built-up area, thus complicating dreams of TOD.