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)

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Full Bio

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.

APA Poll Calls for Major Shift in Planning Profession

This week the American Planning Association proudly released the results of a recent poll entitled <a href=http://www.planning.org/policy/economicrecovery/>Planning in America: Perceptions and Priorities</a>, which it commissioned indicating that Americans are overwhelmingly supportive of community planning. Given the state of national politics, it's no wonder that Americans are reserving their passions for local issues. Boss Tweed and Mayor Quimby are looking like angels by comparison. Some of the results are beyond obvious -- such as the fact that 77% of Americans "agree that communities that plan for the future are stronger" -- while others could, if heeded, foretell profound changes for the profession.

California Tries To Wring Every Last Cent From Redevelopment

California's erstwhile redevelopment agencies are pleading with the state to maintain funding for projects they consider crucial. So far, the Department of Finance has taken a decidedly conservative approach.

USA Today: A Rude Wake-Up Call For Cities

<p style="margin: 0px; color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; font-size: small" class="MsoNormal"> LOGAN AIRPORT, Boston – I’m on my way home from the <a href="http://www.lincolninst.edu/">Lincoln Institute of Land Policy’s </a>Journalists Forum , an annual event, co-sponsored by the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Neiman Foundation, in which journalists from around the country convene to discuss, jointly, the fate of our industry and the fate of American cities. </p>

National Conference Will Urge Planners To 'Think Big'

For the first time in a generation, the American Planning Association is hosting its National Conference in Los Angeles. Organizers view the event, April 14-17, as a chance to inspire planners to assert themselves and start dreaming big again.

California Redefines Density

Census data reveals that California is the most urbanized state, with the most dense urban areas. But in California, sprawl, density, crowding, and urbanism are not always what they seem. Fortunately, a new law may help planners make sense of it all.