This excerpted chapter is from a "fix-it manual" for citizen planners working on improving their towns or neighborhoods.
Real Towns is a handbook for real people - people who live in small towns, new suburbs or big cities; in downtown neighborhoods, historic districts or high-rise condos. This fix-it manual can help citizens working on real neighborhoods - places filled with character, families, and history, with people who want to make their communites work better. It gives local government officials, developers and citizen activists the tools needed to apply time-tested principles to revitalize their neighborhoods."This is a fix-it manual for working on real towns or neighborhoods - places filled with character, with families, with history, filled with people who want to make them better. Making towns work isn't exactly rocket science. It is often more complicated -- but some of the basic truths are very simple. Just as owner-builders can learn how to work on their houses, citizens can learn how to work on their communities. The obvious place to start is by looking at the parts that aren't working well, figuring out how they are interrelated, and diagnosing how to fix them together." The Citizen Planner has become an integral chapter in the recently-released book, Real Towns: Making Your Neighborhood Work (Local Government Commission and Citizen Planner Institute, 2000). [Thanks to "Real Towns" author Harrison Bright Rue for contributing the book summary.]
Thanks to The Practice of New Urbanism
FULL STORY: The Citizen Planner

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USDOT Revokes Approval for NYC Congestion Pricing
Despite the administration’s stated concern for the “working class,” 85 percent of Manhattan commuters use public transit to enter the city.

Tiny House Villages for Addressing Homelessness: An Interview with Yetimoni Kpeebi
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Preserving Altadena’s Trees: A Community Effort to Save a Fire-Damaged Landscape
In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena Green is working to preserve fire-damaged but recoverable trees, advocating for better assessment processes, educating homeowners, and protecting the community’s urban canopy from unnecessary removal.

The VW Bus is Back — Now as an Electric Minivan
Volkswagen’s ID. Buzz reimagines its iconic Bus as a fully electric minivan, blending retro design with modern technology, a 231-mile range, and practical versatility to offer a stylish yet functional EV for the future.

Investigation Reveals Just How Badly California’s Homeless Shelters are Failing
Fraud, violence, death, and chaos follow a billion dollar investment in a temporary solution that is proving ineffective.
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.
Economic & Planning Systems, Inc.
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research