Land Use

Rahul Mehrotra Talks Indian Urban Planning

Rahul Mehrotra talks to The Hindu about sustainable cities, community participation, and infrastructure. The article also has a review of his most recent book "Architecture in India Since 1990."

August 16, 2011 - The Hindu

Berlin Wall Site Now a Hot Neighborhood

The Berlin Wall was constructed 50 years ago by Communist East Germany. Parts of the wall remain as a remembrance, but much of the area has been transformed into hip neighborhoods and parks.

August 13, 2011 - NPR

Atlanta's Beltline Has Long Road to Ideal Smart Growth Model

The Atlanta Beltline Partnership's annual report shows how revitalization programs, workforce housing, parks and trails have been blossoming. Yet transit development has lagged behind, reports Kaid Benfield for The Atlantic.

July 27, 2011 - The Atlantic

Connecting Residents With Services in Abu Dhabi Master Plan

The revitalization master plan for two older neighborhoods in Abu Dhabi includes creating "new roads, clinics, schools, police stations and neighborhood centers" and making them easily accessible to residents.

July 26, 2011 - The National

How the Other Half Lives in Hong Kong

For a city of over 16,000 people per square mile, less than 7% of Hong Kong's land is designated for residential use. Subdivided apartments - aka "coffin units" - totaling 150 square feet aren't uncommon, reports The Wall Street Journal.

July 26, 2011 - The Wall Street Journal

Land Use Impacts On Travel: Current State of Knowledge

As discussed in my previous column, An Inaccurate Attack On Smart Growth, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) sponsored a research program intended to raise doubts about smart growth’s ability to reduce vehicle travel [...]

July 18, 2011 - Todd Litman

Santa Monica's Ambitious Plan For 'No Net New Car Trips'

Beachside Santa Monica recently launched an ambitious Land Use and Circulation Element, which will balance growth, neighborhoods, and traffic. The plan has received accolades, and the city has become a model for consensus-based planning.

July 15, 2011 - The Planning Report

The Challenge of Long-Term Planning

The sometimes decades-long gap between cause and effect makes it difficult to reverse long-standing transportation & planning policies, says Ben Brown.

July 11, 2011 - PlaceShakers

Music Gives New Life to Brownfield

A lakefront steel plant on Chicago's South Side that has been abandoned since 1992 is the venue of the Dave Matthew's Caravan July music festival.

June 30, 2011 - Chicago Tribune

The Federal Role in Supporting Urban Manufacturing

Revitalizing American manufacturing is widely-acknowledged as vital to our country’s economic recovery and long-term prosperity, but it is equally essential to understand the changing of this sector in order to make smart policy decisions.

April 17, 2011 - Brookings Institution/Pratt Center for Community Development

New York's Zoning Needs An Update

On the 50th Anniversary of New York City's 1961 Zoning Resolution, President of the Municipal Art Society of New York Vin Cipolla argues that New York "needs a new zoning resolution for a new era."

March 23, 2011 - Crain's NY

A Night At Arcosanti

January 17, 2011 - George Haugh

Politics vs Progress in Australia

The new Government for the State of Victoria in Australia is attempting to reverse basic initiatives pursuing the integration of land use and transport, brought on by NIMBY influences.

December 20, 2010 - The Age Newspaper

Redefining "Smart Growth" for the 21st Century

Kaid Benfield of the NRDC thinks it is time to add more specifics to the definition of smart growth. He prescribes a set of six new focus areas, including equity and health, that he argues should be emphasized in the 21st-century smart growth agenda.

December 7, 2010 - Natural Resources Defense Council

Slow Going for Light Rail in Dallas

A new 28-mile expansion makes the city's system is the largest in the nation, but is it actually changing travel habits? Yonah Freemark investigates.

December 7, 2010 - the transport politic

Urban Agriculture Craze Boon to Farmers in Japan

Japan's yard-less city dwellers are increasingly drawn to "weekend farming" plots rented from commercial farmers on the urban fringe. Could it help the country's struggling agriculture sector? Kenji Hall reports.

December 6, 2010 - Los Angeles Times

Rethinking Detroit

Detroit reporter John Gallagher's new book "Reimagining Detroit" considers what it will take to remake The Motor City into a model that will work for the future.

November 17, 2010 - Model D

Officials Fight to Remediate Contamination Underneath Main Olympic Site

A heavily contaminated site formerly used for chemical storage in East London provides an expensive lesson in urban brownfield remediation for government officials preparing the city for the upcoming 2012 Olympic Games.

November 17, 2010 - The Guardian

Controversial Housing Bill Advances in NJ

A law requiring New Jersey towns to ensure 10 percent of new units are affordable now awaits a vote by the State Assembly.

November 10, 2010 - The Star-Ledger

Does Smart Growth Lead to More Expensive Housing?

Wendell Cox believes so. In this article, he quantifies the effect of land use regulation on the cost of new home construction, which he says leads to

November 5, 2010 - New Geography

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.