Museums

A New Cultural Landmark: Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Set to Open in 2026
Transforming a former parking lot into a dynamic cultural hub, this new museum will feature expansive gallery spaces, theaters, educational areas, and lush green landscapes while prioritizing community engagement, local hiring, and inclusive design.

How Transit-Accessible are Presidential Museums?
Most Presidential libraries and museums have some transit accessibility, but none are in big-city downtowns.

Friday Fun: Touring 12 Famous Museums from Home
Most museums are closed during the pandemic, but you can still visit them virtually from the comfort of your home thanks to Google Arts & Culture.

How Coronavirus Has Transformed Italy's Urban Spaces
Italy has been hit hard by the pandemic, and slowing the spread of the virus has meant dramatic changes in urban life.

Introducing the National Public Housing Museum
The planned National Public Housing Museum, expected to open in 2021, will draw attention to a highly contested subject and connect to the relevance provided by contemporary anxieties about housing.

Eastern State Penitentiary: A Class about the Past Speaks to the Present and the Future
Built as an embodiment of the ideals of prison reformers, the Eastern State Penitentiary had running water and central heating before the White House, and housed the first synagogue built in an American prison.

Seattle Exhibit Grapples With Redlining Past and Present
A creative exhibit highlights how redlining and racist exclusion persist today.

A Flurry of Expansion Plans for Milwaukee Arts Institutions
Buoyed by a strong economy and robust fundraising, a wide variety of arts institutions in Milwaukee want to remodel or relocate to new buildings. Here's a look at some of their plans.

An 'Evicted' Exhibit Planned for the National Building Museum
The critically acclaimed and Pulitzer Prize-winning book Evicted by Mathew Desmond will serve as the inspiration for an "immersive" exhibition at the National Building Museum.

Lucas Museum Finally Finds a Home—in Los Angeles
This story has had more twists than the end of Empire Strikes Back, but it seems like it finally might end in Los Angeles.

New York Museum of Modern Art Closing its Architecture and Design Galleries
The first museum to have a "sustained department of architecture and design" is closing down its architecture and design galleries.

Museum Park Reflects Changing Preferences
Raleigh's North Carolina Museum of Art is redesigning its extensive grounds with an eye toward how public interaction with museums is shifting. Inclusion, sustainability, and brand development are paramount.
Rio De Janeiro's New 'Museum of Tomorrow' Studies Urban Ambitions
The world lacks any significant number of museums focused primarily on the issues of planning. Rio de Janeiro, however, will soon add one to the inventory.

Make Your City a Treasure Hunt
Do you remember going on a treasure hunt as a child? Treasure hunts are becoming increasingly popular with adults, as well as children. Technology has enabled mobile treasure hunts with cities across the world hosting hunts.
How To: Design a User-Friendly Museum Exhibition about Planning
John King writes that the "Gallery + Ideas Forum" at the Presidio in San Francisco provides an excellent model for presenting issues and ideas of planning and urban design to the public.
Report Recommends Trains for the Postal Service
The Post Office once used trains but no more, unlike the United Parcel Service (UPS). A new reports recommends that the Post Office return to their past, though not necessarily sorting the mail on the train like you might see in a rail museum.
Revealed: Proposed Designs for Chicago's Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Beijing's MAD Architects have unveiled their preliminary design for Chicago's Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, inspiring no shortage of commentary in the process.
A Call to Protect Cultural Institutions from Urban Renewal
While considering plans for a large urban renewal project in Hollywood, Los Angeles struggles to avoid throwing out the baby with the bathwater—that is, saving a place for small cultural institutions when redeveloping neighborhoods.
New Development Projects Boost San Francisco's Northern Waterfront
The historic Fort Mason, along with several other development projects, has helped alter the landscape of the city’s northern waterfront, according to Jim Chappell, former head of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association.
Criticism for Chicago's Lucas Museum Planning Process
Chicago won the opportunity to house the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, proposed for a location at Chicago's Museum Campus. But critics are gathering with questions about how the museum will fit into the city's fabric.
Pagination
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.
City of Albany
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