Housing

A person experiencing homelessness sleeps on the sidewalk, atop the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Reimagining Homelessness and Mental Health: 'Radical Hospitality' in Trieste, Italy

Kerry Morrison, founder of Heart Forward LA, shares her journey researching the “failures” of the U.S. mental health system, and what L.A. could learn about radical hospitality from a city with a robust community-based approach—Trieste, Italy.

December 21, 2021 - The Planning Report

The top floors of a row of pre-fab apartments or condos are shown against a blue sky.

Prefab Custom Homes: Urban Multi-Family Game Changer

Steve Glenn, CEO of Plant Prefab, shares how his company is infiltrating single and multifamily housing markets with custom designed prefabricated homes to deliver healthy and sustainable buildings by design and at scale.

December 10, 2021 - The Planning Report

Germany Capital City

What Housing Organizers in the U.S. Can Learn from Berlin's Re-Socialization Campaign

More than half of Berlin voters approved a non-binding referendum to resocialize a quarter-million apartments. What can housing organizers in the U.S. learn?

October 20, 2021 - Next City

Stanford

Opinion: Build Density in Palo Alto–and Lots of It

To keep up with demand and slow the astronomical rise in housing costs, Palo Alto and other Silicon Valley cities must overcome local opposition to density and high-rises.

August 9, 2021 - San Francisco Chronicle

Empty Homes

Defining the 'Community' in Community Land Trusts

As community land trusts take root and expand, they face numerous questions on how to stay communally-focused while their geographic scope grows.

July 28, 2021 - Shelterforce

Downtown Flint Michigan along Saginaw Street

How Much Land Is Lost to Wide Streets?

New research assesses the land value of street space in 20 of the largest counties in the United States.

June 9, 2021 - Bloomberg CityLab

Back Bay Boston

What Is Multi-Family Housing?

Often discussed in contrast with single-family zoning, multi-family housing includes buildings and complexes that house more than one household in the same property.

June 1, 2021 - Diana Ionescu

Baltimore Rowhouses

The Challenges of Being a Black Developer

In an overwhelmingly white industry, Black developers find it harder to access investment, equity, and opportunities.

April 12, 2021 - The Washington Post

Leaving California

Exporting California's Housing Challenges? Correcting the Record on Out-Migration

Michael Storper and Patrick Condon opine on what California's population demographics really reveal about housing, density, economic development, jobs, and affordability.

March 16, 2021 - The Planning Report

Vancouver Skyline

Density, Affordability, and the 'Hungry Dogs' of Land Price Speculation

Patrick Condon argues that increasing density without affordability inflates urban land values, resulting in nearly all of the value of labor and creative enterprise of entrepreneurs in regional economies being absorbed as land wealth.

March 15, 2021 - The Planning Report

Wheelchair user on sidewalk

What the Livability Index Shows About Housing

A new report highlights inequalities in accessibility and affordability.

February 22, 2021 - Harvard Center for Joint Housing Studies

Downtown Boise

Boise Using Adaptive Reuse to Convert Offices to Affordable Housing

Under the city's Grow Our Housing program, vacant offices could see a new life as below-market rentals.

February 19, 2021 - NextCity

Aerial of Wallingford, Seattle circa 1969

Historic Preservation as a Tool of Exclusion

The push for historic preservation districts often amounts to exclusionary zoning that exacerbates the housing affordability crisis.

February 14, 2021 - The Urbanist

Maryland School

The Impacts of Zoning Laws in Montgomery County

Historic zoning decisions have left a lasting legacy of housing inequality. Current leaders have the opportunity to change that.

February 1, 2021 - Greater Greater Washington

Sutter Street from above

San Francisco's Housing Crisis is Deepening, Despite Falling Rents

Despite the purported exodus of untethered Silicon Valley workers from the Bay Area, rents in the city are still the highest in the United States.

January 24, 2021 - The Guardian

Bronx Apartments

What is Affordable Housing?

The term affordable housing refers to housing units that cost less than a predetermined percentage of household incomes. Planners use affordable housing as a general term to describe housing that doesn't put an excessive financial burden on its occupants.

January 10, 2021 - Diana Ionescu

Rittenhouse Square

Residential Development Tax to Fund Affordable Housing Programs

Philadelphia's city council passed the city's first-ever residential development impact tax, a plan that could boost the city budget by $9 million a year.

December 18, 2020 - WHYY

Rent Jubilee

Campaign to Cancel Rent Raises Questions for the Affordable Housing Movement

What would it actually mean to cancel rent?

May 6, 2020 - Shelterforce Magazine

NYC from Hoboken

How the Post-Pandemic Future Could Resemble the Pre-Pandemic Future

Response to coronavirus challenges in urban settings will likely be a continuity of work started decades ago.

April 16, 2020 - CityLab

Suburban Tract Homes

How the Pandemic Is Stressing the Mortgage System

As the outbreak continues, the country’s housing finance system faces a number of serious threats and challenges.

April 5, 2020 - Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University

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.