New Orleans

The Growing Attraction of Historic Streetcars

As cities across the country build and revive their streetcar networks, a sense of nostalgia for the time when they could be found in cities across the country is leading to a thriving business in refurbishing old streetcars.

February 26, 2012 - Governing

On the Front Lines of the Future: New Orleans, Detroit, Phoenix

What do New Orleans, Detroit, and Phoenix all have in common? Each one has confronted some of our most pressing challenges of our time and has a lesson of survival to teach us.

January 22, 2012 - Practicing Architecture

Highway Removals to Become More Difficult

Following highly publicized urban highway removal success stories like Boston's Big Dig and San Francisco's Embarcadero, Anthony Flint asks whether similar successes will be easy to duplicate.

January 10, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Can't Buy Me Love--Or Plan For It

This morning I embarked with three dozen volunteers to plant 10 trees in Pigeon Town, a neighborhood in western New Orleans. The group was completing an eight-hour training on urban greening initiatives, learning everything from pruning methods to how to work with municipalities to find funding for beautification projects—which have been proven to improve everything from real estate values to crime statistics. The training did not, however, cover what we were supposed to do when we heard gunshots ring out. That we had to improvise.

November 30, 2011 - Jeffrey Barg

New Orleans Homeowner Finds Coffins in Backyard

Vincent Marcello intended to build a swimming pool in his backyard, which is built on top of the city's oldest burial grounds. 15 coffins have been excavated so far.

November 22, 2011 - The Times-Picayune

The Problem with "Playground Cities"

Witold Rybczynski crams a lot of insight into a very brief blog post on the issues of "playground cities" such as New Orleans that attract tourists and are flooded with vacation homes.

November 7, 2011 - Witold Rybczynski's blog

Post-Katrina, New Orleans Rebuilds With Cyclists in Mind

Before Katrina, New Orleans was unfriendly and unpopular for cyclists. Today, the city has 15 streets with bike lanes totaling 40 miles of bike pathway, and is gunning to be as bike-friendly as Portland or Seattle.

October 13, 2011 - Associated Press

Picture Not So Rosy in the Ninth Ward

Martin C. Pedersen says New Orleans' recovery is far from over in the Ninth Ward, even with the efforts of groups like Brad Pitt's Make it Right Foundation.

September 5, 2011 - Metropolis Magazine

Can Community Land Trusts Work for Retail Centers?

New Orleans, San Francisco, and Albuquerque are exploring, and implementing, community land trusts as an economic development tool that can encourage development in business districts while assuring that local businesses are not displaced.

August 5, 2011 - Shelterforce

Biking on the Rise in New Orleans

Bicycle use has increased in many parts of New Orleans, thanks to new bike lanes.

July 21, 2011 - Metropolis

Obama Launches Strong Cities, Strong Communities Initiative In 6 Cities

Six pilot cities are selected for the launch of a new federal, interagency initiative know as 'Strong Cities, Strong Communities': Fresno, New Orleans, Detroit, Cleveland, Memphis and Chester, PA.

July 12, 2011 - The White House blog

Slow Progress in East New Orleans

In this piece from Places, Deborah Gans offers a firsthand look at planning for recovery in the city's neglected East side.

June 28, 2011 - Places

New Orleans to Explore Dutch Approach to Water Management

A local firm is leading an effort in New Orleans to manage the city's water more like the Dutch.

June 10, 2011 - Architectural Record

Barbie, Duany and the American Institute of Architects

Mattel chose to premiere its "Architect Barbie" at the AIA Convention in New Orleans, and reporter Doug MacCash foregoes the plastic icon to talk to another sort of icon—Andres Duany.

May 18, 2011 - The Times-Picayune

Local Rebuilding Efforts Underpin New Orleans' Recovery

The recovery of New Orleans is happening in many small ways. One of them is the work of community groups to rebuild and re-inhabit damaged homes.

May 15, 2011 - NRDC Switchboard

Decentralizing Decisionmaking in New Orleans' Recovery

Various plans and strategies have been crafted over the years to try to help New Orleans recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. While early plans took a stronger stance, the city is now taking a less heavy-handed approach.

May 2, 2011 - Architectural Record

Post-Katrina Population Boom in New Orleans: Chickens

Stray chickens have overrun many parts of New Orleans since it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

April 14, 2011 - The New Orleans Times-Picayune

The Next Urbanism: A Movement Evolves

Since 2004, the Next Generation of New Urbanists (NextGen) has welcomed new ideas and new faces into the Congress for the New Urbanism.

March 28, 2011 - Mike Lydon

Which Was Worst: Katrina, or Car Culture?

Toronto architecture critic Christopher Hume visits New Orleans, and concludes that "the devastation wrought by Louisianans upon Louisiana far outweighs anything a hurricane can do."

March 27, 2011 - The Toronto Star

Streetcar Success in New Orleans

The experience of rebuilding a streetcar line in New Orleans and the subsequent neighborhood growth that followed offers lessons to other cities considering streetcar plans, according to this piece from Architect Magazine.

March 24, 2011 - Architect

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.