New York is a city of superlatives. A new series of walking tours around the city, led by the New York Times architecture critic, draws out the many examples of the city's exceptionalism.
Michael Kimmelman is providing a colorful series of articles that share walks around various corners of New York City. They latest walk tours Jackson Heights, a "global town square" that is the most diverse neighborhood in New York, and potentially the world, according to the article.
The brainchild of commercial real estate developers in the early years of the last century who hoped to entice white, middle-class Manhattanites seeking a suburban lifestyle a short subway ride away, Jackson Heights has become a magnet for Latinos, those who identify as L.G.B.T.Q., South Asians and just about everybody else seeking a foothold in the city and a slice of the American pie.
Suketu Mehta, a New York University professor and the author of Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found and This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto, guides Kimmelman on this tour through a rapidly changing neighborhood (even by New York standards, according to Kimmelman). Mehta gives the a corner of the neighborhood called Diversity Plaza exceedingly high praise: "If I were Baudelaire, this is where I would do my flâneur thing."
The interactive article provides incredible detail on the numerous cultural revelations available in the details of photos taken around the neighborhood. The previous installation of the series toured Harlem.
FULL STORY: Jackson Heights, Global Town Square
Falling in Love With One of the Filthiest Creeks in the Country
Steven Stern explores New York's Newtown Creek through the eyes of Mitch Waxman, a self-taught historian and unlikely devotee of the aquatic wastedump-turned-Superfund site.
NYC E-Scooter Program Threatened Despite High Ridership
Rental scooters in Queens and the Bronx provided close to two million trips in 2024, with many trips starting or ending near transit. Some city officials want to remove them.
E-Scooters Are Rolling Into Queens
Citing the success of a shared scooter program in the Bronx, New York City officials are expanding e-scooter service to parts of eastern Queens.
Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”
Study: Maui’s Plan to Convert Vacation Rentals to Long-Term Housing Could Cause Nearly $1 Billion Economic Loss
The plan would reduce visitor accommodation by 25% resulting in 1,900 jobs lost.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Waymo Gets Permission to Map SF’s Market Street
If allowed to operate on the traffic-restricted street, Waymo’s autonomous taxis would have a leg up over ride-hailing competitors — and counter the city’s efforts to grow bike and pedestrian on the thoroughfare.
Parklet Symposium Highlights the Success of Shared Spaces
Parklets got a boost during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the concept was translated to outdoor dining programs that offered restaurants a lifeline during the shutdown.
Federal Homelessness Agency Places Entire Staff on Leave
The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness is the only federal agency dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
Smith Gee Studio
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service