Exclusives

BLOG POST

A Vote for the City

The answer is: “Because people today would rather not work and instead just sit at home collecting welfare checks.” And the question? If you guessed, “What should you not say in a room full of city planning students?”, congratulations! You win. We would have also accepted, “FDR began a ton of new federal programs during the New Deal. As long as we have a $700 billion financial bailout, what programs would you enact or not enact as part of a New Deal today?” Thanks for playing. We have some lovely parting gifts for you.

October 16 - Jeffrey Barg

FEATURE

News Summary: Cities and the Financial Crisis

How is the financial crisis impacting urban planning and land use policy? Managing Editor Tim Halbur takes a look at some early indicators drawn from recent news headlines and conversations with planning professionals.

October 15 - Tim Halbur

BLOG POST

Fear and Housing on the Campaign Trail, 2008

James Howard Kunstler <a href="http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/">has been saying for some time now</a> that when our "ponzi scheme" economy finally crumbles around us, people are going to be very angry, and looking for someone to blame.

October 14 - Michael Dudley

BLOG POST

Urban Renewal: Tragedies and Ironies Yesterday and Today

One of the most interesting things that I have learned in school thus far is the history of the urban renewal program. As a budding urban planner, I have often used the term “urban renewal” interchangeably with “urban revitalization” to describe the process of neighborhood improvement via economic and housing development. Regardless of the term I used, I was very clear that revitalization – or renewal – was a catch-22. The implementation of business and housing developments would jumpstart a neighborhood deemed blighted and consequently, only affluent residents could afford to enjoy the amenities of the revitalized neighborhood.

October 13 - Tamika Camille Gauvin

BLOG POST

Of Songs And Cities: Listening To NYC's Columbus Park

Jane Jacobs once said, “Songs and cities are the best things about us. Songs and cities are so indispensable.” For a long time I thought Mother Jacobs was speaking, as only she could, about two separate, but vital human necessities. Yet after another weekend exploring New York City, I am convinced the two—songs and cities—are inextricably linked. That is, truly great cities play their own songs, and after one listen you can’t get them out of your head.

October 13 - Mike Lydon

FEATURE

Economic Thinking is Job Number One

In the midst of this financial crisis, it is doubly important to understand the economic perspective on urban planning and real estate development, argues USC Professor Peter Gordon.

October 13 - Peter Gordon

BLOG POST

Thinking Beyond the Gas Tax

<div> "We must respond to the reality that the gas tax, the traditional source of revenue for transportation investments at both the state and federal level, is not expected to keep pace with transportation needs in the future." With these words, New York Transportation Commissioner Astrid C. Glynn welcomed participants to a New York State DOT-sponsored symposium, "Beyond the Gas Tax: Funding Future Transportation Needs." The event, organized by Prof. Robert (Buz) Paaswell, Director of the University Transportation Research Center at City College of New York, drew some 200 participants to Syracuse N.Y. on October 7. Emil Frankel, former Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation and currently head of the National Transportation Policy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, gave the keynote address. He was followed by a group of national and state speakers who examined the status of state and federal transportation finances and explored the funding options for the future.

October 12 - Kenneth Orski

BLOG POST

Malls needn't wait for failure, to Re-Urbanize

One of Vancouver's most recent significant planning exercises is noteworthy not simply because of the merits of its process or its resulting planning and design vision, but perhaps more so because of the new model it may represent to North American mall owners. But I'll come back to that.

October 9 - Brent Toderian

BLOG POST

'Don't Tell My Landlord'

That's what some guy said to me late last night as I waited for my tacos at a typically busy taco truck. He was talking about our Los Angeles neighborhood, Echo Park, which was recently named by the American Planning Association as one of the "<a href="http://www.planning.org/greatplaces/index.htm" target="_blank" title="APA's Great Neighborhoods List">10 Great Neighborhoods of 2008</a>". It's a nice honor for the 'hood -- and I think they're right -- but I'm with that random taco dude: don't tell my landlord.

October 9 - Nate Berg

FEATURE

Breaking Down the Big Box

October 9 - Josh Stephens

BLOG POST

Planning for True Security

Most people have a highly distorted view of the risks they face, which skews their decisions and ultimately reduces their happiness. We live in one of the safest times and places in history, yet, many people live in constant fear, and respond in ways that actually reduce overall security. This is a major obstacle to efficient transportation, healthy living, and livable community.

October 7 - Todd Litman

FEATURE

'Broken Windows' Rebuffed: The Social Life of Skid Row

On L.A.'s Skid Row, revitalization efforts fail to consider the human aspects of life on the streets, according to Rocco Pendola.

October 6 - Rocco Pendola

BLOG POST

A Planner's Prayer

A PLANNER’S PRAYER Next week, Jews around the world (including myself) will spend the day in synagogue for Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. On that day, we will pray for forgiveness for our sins. One Yom Kippur prayer, the Al Chet (Hebrew for “for the sin”) lists a variety of sins, requesting Divine forgiveness for each. (One English translation can be found at www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/6577/jewish/Text-of-Al-Chet.htm )

October 3 - Michael Lewyn

FEATURE

Removing Cars to Create Public Space

Cars dominate cities, especially in America. But as many cities in other countries have found, removing cars can turn busy streets into lively public places. Now the U.S. is starting to catch on.

October 2 - Nate Berg

BLOG POST

Communication: Online Advice about Writing for Planners

What do planners do? Last month I highlighted the findingsof several surveys of planners aiming to identify core skills for theworkplace. They highlight the importance of skills in communication,information analysis and synthesis, political savvy, and basic workplacecompetencies and attitudes. In all these surveys, however, the ability to writewell is at or near the top.

October 1 - Ann Forsyth

BLOG POST

Money for Nothing? Not Anymore. (Chicks, Though? Still Free.)

Almost a month into planning school, I can see the profession’s all about improvisation. How do you think on your feet when a client doesn’t like your design? What other cities can you turn to when a sudden mandate comes down to look for policy innovation? Or let’s say you’re a planning professor. The financial markets have started a tailspin, eating themselves alive and swallowing MBAs whole. How’s your lesson plan gonna change?

October 1 - Jeffrey Barg

BLOG POST

New Orleans on My Mind

Last Thursday night marked the end of an intense two-week team project in my Gateway: Planning (a kind of Introduction to Planning) course. In this project, my classmates and I assumed the role of consultants to a fictitious working group of the real-life New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) and prepared and delivered oral briefings on key challenges to post-Katrina housing recovery.

September 29 - Tamika Camille Gauvin

FEATURE

Dharavi: India's Model Slum

September 29 - Prakash M. Apte

BLOG POST

Should the Internet Replace Newspapers for Public Notices?

In thousands of planning and zoning laws across the nation, official announcements are required to be published in the local newspaper of "general circulation." In an era of newspaper decline and expanding diversity of media, are these laws becoming obsolete? Furthermore, should we be concerned with newspapers at all if a newer, more universally accessible medium is available: the Internet? A variety of announcements are legally required to be published in a local periodical of "general circulation," sometimes in addition to being published in an official government gazette. The practice entered the planning world through the U.S. Department of Commerce's highly influential <a href="http://www.planning.org/growingsmart/enablingacts.htm">standard zoning and planning enabling acts</a>.

September 28 - Robert Goodspeed

BLOG POST

Searching for Subversion in Boston

<div> </div> <div> I've always wanted, but never quite had the cred, to go to Burning Man. Instead, I went to this year's rendition of <a href="http://www.parkingday.org/" target="_blank">National Park(ing) Day</a> in the hopes that it would provide a reasonable, if diminuative, substitute in temporary parks across the country. Creative minds can do a lot with 180 square feet, especially when there are straight-laced passers-by to shock and paradigms to subvert. </div>

September 28 - Josh Stephens