Changing Demographics

What Planners Need to Know About Aging for Comprehensive Plans

Julia Wolfe, planning specialist for the Ramsey County Public Health, lays out some suggestions to plan for aging population.

December 22, 2017 - PlanIt - Metropolitan Council

Chicago Riverwalk

Chicago Deeply Segregated, if Slightly Less So Than in the 1990s

A Chicagoan working at a downtown library noticed her black coworkers all tended to head home to the South Side after work while her white coworkers went north. She asked Chicago's Public Radio station (WBEZ) if the city was becoming more segregated.

August 2, 2017 - CNN

Twins Logo Sign

Twin Cities Regional Forecast Foresees Steady Growth and Big Changes

The Metropolitan Council has released "The Twin Cities Regional Forecast to 2040: Steady Growth and Big Changes Ahead" to provide a foundation for coordinated planning by the Metropolitan Council and local governments.

July 7, 2017 - Metropolitan Council

Wine Barrels

Beer from Portlandia in the Land of the Rising Sun

Japanese cities and citizens look to Portland for inspiration.

September 28, 2016 - The Economist

Houston's downtown skyline

Dispelling Four Myths of Houston's Growth and Affordability

A researcher at Rice University finds that proclamations of Houston’s affordability, gentrification, and growth are just myths.

November 9, 2015 - The Urban Edge

Suburban Dead End

Poverty Less Rural Than 50 Years Ago

It used to be that the nation's rural areas suffered from the highest poverty rates. Today, nearly half of the American poor live in mid-sized counties.

September 21, 2015 - Pew Research Center

A Community of Brick Suburban Homes on a cloudy summer day

The Changing Face of Suburban America

As the nation becomes more racially diverse, so too do the suburbs.

July 31, 2015 - Brookings: The Avenue

Downtown Phoenix Skyline

The Changing Shape of American Cities

A newly released report shows the demographic transformation of American cities spatially from 1990 to 2012 by charting their neighborhoods based on distance to the center of the city.

February 27, 2015 - University of Virginia Center for Public Service

Urban Churches Adapt to a Changing City

In Washington, D.C., residents, shops and restaurants come and go, often moving from neighborhood to neighborhood. But churches remain. They anchor the community as it changes, and often find themselves changing with it.

November 18, 2014 - Elevation DC

Growing Concentrations of Poverty in American Suburbs

Updating the initial "Re-Emergence of Concentrated Poverty" Brookings report, Elizabeth Kneebone shows where concentrations of poverty have taken root during the Great Recession and subsequently slow recovery period.

August 1, 2014 - Brookings Institution

The Policy Implications of Families in Virginia Choosing to Stay in Cities

Data in Virginia shows that more young families are choosing to stay in urban areas to raise their children. This is causing a rapid increase in school enrollment and fueling the fastest growth Virginia's urban areas have experienced since the 1950s.

May 5, 2014 - University of Virginia Center for Public Service

Minneapolis Stone Arch Bridge

Families Choosing Twin Cities Urbanity Over Suburban Living

Data suggesting a dramatic shift toward the urban core are accruing in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Suburbs have responded by creating walkable downtowns, but are struggling with declining school enrollment and other consequences.

January 8, 2014 - Star Tribune

Downturn Proves Resiliency of Smart Growth

In an interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Geoffrey Anderson and Bill Fulton reflect on the new normal for development across the country, which astonishingly to anyone looking back twenty years, has absorbed Smart Growth principles.

February 17, 2012 - UT San Diego

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.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.