Christian Madera
Christian Madera was managing editor of Planetizen from 2006 to 2008.
Contributed 1912 posts
Christian Madera was managing editor of Planetizen from 2006 to 2008. He currently lives and works in Hong Kong.
Christian has written about urban planning, policy and technology issues for the Los Angeles Times, Planning Magazine, The Southern Sierran, and Next City Magazine, where he was a 2010 Urban Leaders Fellow. His past experience includes working as a community planner and the web and new media manager for the National Capital Planning Commission in Washington, DC, as well as a policy analyst for a non-profit housing developer in Los Angeles.
Prior to joining Planetizen, Christian worked as a program manager for the China Planning and Development Institute in Shanghai and Beijing. Christian also spent three years as a web developer at Urban Insight, the internet consulting firm that supports Planetizen, and contributed significantly to the development of Planetizen from 2000-2003. He has interned and consulted with a number of governments and non-profit organizations, including the Port Authority of NY/NJ, the Rockefeller Foundation, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), NYU Rudin Center for Transportation Policy, New Jersey Future, the City of Newark, NJ, and the CUNY Building Performance Lab in New York City.
Christian holds a BS in urban planning and development from the University of Southern California's School of Policy Planning and Development, and an MPA from the Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs at Princeton University.
How Bad Leadership Spoils Good Planning
In many ways, a successful urban planner is first and foremost a leader, yet far too many professionals lack the ability to lead, and ignore the importance of cultivating good leadership skills.
The Disappearing Corporate Citizen
A new paper from the Brookings Institute, "Corporate Citizenship and Urban Problem Solving: The Changing Civic Role of Business Leaders in American Cities," provides insight into the diminishing capacity for the private sector to engage in planning.
Housing Crisis Due To Government's Failure To Plan
Local government's preoccupation with regulating development and its failure to provide public infrastructure and maintain an attractive public realm is at the root of the current lack of affordable housing.
Developers Form Institutes To Keep New Urbanist Ideals Alive
Seaside's New Institutes Program helps communities establish nonprofit organizations different from homeowners' associations.
Philadelphia's Late Planning Director Honored With Historical Marker
Ed Bacon, the renowned Planning Director whose face graced the cover of Time magazine in 1964 and whose design concepts shaped Philadelphia, was honored with a Pennsylvania State Historical Marker in LOVE Park.