New York

Brooklyn Armory Gets a Second Chance at Life

An armory built for the National Guard at the turn of the century may see a second life as Crown Point's newest community-oriented, multi-use complex, Raanan Geberer, reports.

July 6, 2012 - Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Viral Video Gets MTA Response in a New York Minute

In response to widespread attention from one short video, MTA repair crews rushed to repair a faulty step at a subway station staircase in "perhaps the fastest response to a customer complaint in agency history," Matt Flegenheimer reports.

July 3, 2012 - The New York Times City Room Blog

An Historic Preservation Horror Story

A movie location scout fell in love with a turn-of-the-century Victorian in Queens, but ended up not using it for the TV show they were scouting. Years later, they returned and found that something horrible had happened.

July 3, 2012 - Scouting New York

Coney Island Meets the Grid

In order to save Coney Island from dwindling unemployment rates and high poverty levels, developers rezone the 46-year-old amusement park, but the plans may never actually leave the paper.

July 3, 2012 - The Brooklyn Bureau

Playgrounds for Adults

Winnie Hu reports on a new effort in Macombs Dam Park in the Bronx to encourage adults into healthy activity.

July 1, 2012 - The New York Times

Robert Moses and the "Playscape"

James Trainor looks back at the history of New York's "adventure playgrounds" of the 1960s and 70s, tracing their origin back to the original Central Park dust-up between Robert Moses and local housewives.

June 30, 2012 - CABINET

Buffalo Zoning Supports Sprawl

David Steel explains how Buffalo's zoning code not only makes it impossible to build the type of neighborhoods people love, but also guarantees that low density development pays less taxes.

June 29, 2012 - Rust Wire

At Manhattan Big Box Mall, Parking Garage Still Sits Empty

A big box mall built in East Harlem, complete with an 1,100 space garage, is seeing its customers walk to shop instead of driving. The suburban assumptions underlying the enormous garage never panned out in the heart of the city.

June 26, 2012 - Streetsblog

Understanding How City Rules Affect Urban Areas

In this excerpt from the new book, "City Rules: How Regulations Affect Urban Form," author Emily Talen outlines the ways in which zoning ordinances, building codes and other bureaucratic restrictions negatively affect urban areas.

June 26, 2012 - City Limits

Falling in Love With One of the Filthiest Creeks in the Country

Steven Stern explores New York's Newtown Creek through the eyes of Mitch Waxman, a self-taught historian and unlikely devotee of the aquatic wastedump-turned-Superfund site.

June 25, 2012 - The New York Times

The Death of the Urban Freeway? Not Yet

The long-sought after demolition of Bronx's Sheridan Expressway hits obstacles as the City of New York now looks to save and retrofit it.

June 23, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

New York Launches Program to Speed Up Approvals

Announced this week by Deputy Mayor Robert Steel, a new program being launched by the Department of City Planning on July 2 will seek to dramatically improve the time it takes a project to traverse the city's land use approval process.

June 22, 2012 - The Real Deal

NYC's Progressive Parks Chief Heads for Greener Pastures

After a decade overseeing a historic expansion of the city's park system, New York City's longtime parks commissioner Adrian Benepe has announced he's stepping down, reports David W. Chen.

June 18, 2012 - The New York Times

New NYC Program Aims to Phase Out its Worst Polluters

By partnering with banks, real estate developers and nonprofit groups, New York City will assist some 10,000 buildings to convert to cleaner fuel, a major step in reaching PlaNYC's goal of having the cleanest air of any major U.S. city.

June 18, 2012 - Good Environment

Plan for Willets Point Comes into Focus

Unveiled earlier this week by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the area around Citi Field in Queens is due to become "the site of historic private investment," as a result of a deal reached with developers Sterling Equities and Related Companies.

June 17, 2012 - The Architect's Newspaper Blog

Will New York Plan Jumpstart the Market for Electric Vehicles?

With New York and the federal government partnering to fund 325 new electric-vehicle charging stations statewide, Dana Rubinstein asks if this investment will be enough to persuade East Coasters to start buying EVs in droves.

June 16, 2012 - Capital

Park Maintenance Proves To Be a Problem for NYC

"Currently in its greatest period of park expansion since the 1930s," New York City has shown a remarkable commitment to expanding its open spaces, but finding the resources to maintain them is another issue entirely, explains Caitlin Blanchfield.

June 15, 2012 - The Architect's Newspaper

Fracking Regulations Are Key to the Future of Natural Gas

If natural gas has a future, the key is to regulate hydraulic fracking in a report by the International Energy Agency. The New York Times recommends that all concerned about the environment read it - and no better place to apply it than New York.

June 14, 2012 - The New York Times - Opinion

Can Smart Phones Ignite America's Passion for Walking?

Sarah Goodyear looks at how smart phones and augmented reality applications may hold the key to enriching urban exploration and getting Americans off their sofas and out exploring their environments.

June 12, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

The High Line - Jersey Style

Can Jersey City duplicate the success of NYC's High Line? If they can get through the litigation, it could happen in the the form of The Embankment, a relic railroad running above an historic neighborhood. A preservation group leads the effort.

June 10, 2012 - WNYC

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.