Tennessee

Beale Street Memphis

Memphis Launches First Comprehensive Planning Effort Since 1981

Though it's been 35 years since its last comprehensive plan, the city of Memphis hopes to start updating its comprehensive plan every five to ten years.

June 30, 2016 - The Commercial Appeal

Pumping Gas

Gas Delivery Straight to Your Vehicle. What Could Go Wrong?

Cities and fire departments around the country are struggling with the sudden explosion of start-ups promising to make your life easier by delivering gasoline straight to your vehicle.

May 5, 2016 - Bloomberg

A Chronicle of Inequality—Starting with Memphis and Houston

Places Journal has launched a series titled "The Inequality Chronicles." Expect high-quality longform articles.

March 15, 2016 - Places Journal

Nashville Leaves Room to Maneuver on Transit Planning Future

Nashville residents are being asked to choose their preference among a menu of transit planning options. The most expensive version of the plan would cost $5.4 billion, the least $800 million.

January 29, 2016 - The Tennessean

Bus Riders, Bus Drivers Unify in Memphis

The unions of two groups sometimes pitted against each other in seeking their agenda for the bus system in Memphis have joined together against a common foe: the management of the Memphis Area Transit Authority.

November 25, 2015 - The Memphis Flyer

Empty Lot

Memphis Tells Residents: If You Mow It You Can Own It

Residents who put in the effort of maintaining vacant property will have their hard work rewarded and will be offered the opportunity to purchase the property.

November 7, 2015 - Route Fifty

Memphis and the Origins of the Crosstown Concourse

In an interview with Crosstown Concourse's Todd Richardson, Thriving Cities explores the challenges of revitalizing and transforming Memphis' old Sears Roebuck Building.

November 3, 2015 - Thriving Cities Blog

The Urban Character of Nashville's Building Boom

Nashville has 100 new projects, worth more than $2 billion, underway or in the pipeline for the next year. What does the building boom mean for city's future.

October 19, 2015 - The New York Times

Chattanooga's Unique Approach to Innovation Districts

Bruce Katz says something special is going on in Chattanooga—where a uniquely situated innovation district is setting an example for more traditional approaches to the concept.

October 5, 2015 - Brookings Institution

Nashville Neighborhood Conducts Car-Free Experiment

A neighborhood in West Nashville is in the midst of a "Don't Car Campaign," concluding on September 25, to determine just how walkable and transit-friendly their homes can be.

September 23, 2015 - Nashville Business Journal

Op-Ed: Nashville Should Coordinate Transit, Housing Plans

Urban planning is front in center in Nashville, with a general plan update underway and a mayoral election looming on August 6. One candidate took to the editorial pages of The Tennessean to lay out a housing and transit agenda.

August 4, 2015 - The Tennessean

Beale Street Memphis

Planners Across America: Josh Whitehead Helps Memphis Live Within Limits

Josh Whitehead, planning director of the Memphis and Shelby County Office of Planning & Development (OPD), discusses competing with suburbs, implementing a new zoning code, and redeveloping, for a second time, historic streetcar corridors.

July 31, 2015 - Josh Stephens

Report: Nashville's Transit Fit for a Smaller City

The Nashville Metro Transit Authority recently released a "State of the MTA" report, detailing the system's need for additional funding to improve in pace with the needs of a growing populace.

July 22, 2015 - The Tennessean

Lessons for a Career's Worth of Community Engagement

Community engagement on planning subjects is fraught with the potential for boredom and political conflict. The former mayor of Chattanooga recounts lessons gained while combating those possibilities over a 40-year career.

July 10, 2015 - Governing - City Accelerator

Memphis Residents Weigh in on Fairgrounds Redevelopment

Consultant teams collaborate to provide both in-person and online engagement opportunities, and the city sees an impressive response.

July 9, 2015 - EngagingCities

Nashville's Building Boom Sets Local Records

2014-15 was a banner fiscal year for development in the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee.

July 3, 2015 - Nashville Business Journal

Beale Street

Turmoil on Memphis' Signature Street

Memphis' Beale Street is famous as a home of the blues and one of the city's biggest tourist attractions. Even so, been it's mismanaged and is often empty. With some conflicts settled, the city hopes to realize the street's value as a civic asset.

July 2, 2015 - New York Times

States Ally with Telecoms to Obstruct Municipal Broadband

Telecom companies don’t want to compete with local governments to provide Internet to residents, but a recent rule by the federal government allows them to do just that. Pushback has come from an unlikely source: state attorneys general.

July 1, 2015 - Pacific Standard

Nashville Metro Council Rejects $100 Million Downtown Flood Control Project

Opponents of the capital investment plan rejected the plan on the basis that it focused too much on the downtown area.

June 11, 2015 - The New York Times

Chattanooga Mayor: No Chance for High-Speed Rail to Atlanta

A proposed plan to connect Chattanooga and Atlanta via high-speed rail, 17 years in the making, appears to be dead in the water. Chattanooga will now turn its attentions to a possible light rail system.

May 26, 2015 - Chattanooga Times Free Press

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.