Jonathan Nettler has lived and practiced in Boston, Washington D.C., San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles on a range of project types for major public, institutional, and private developer clients including: large scale planning and urban design, waterfront and brownfield redevelopment, transit-oriented development, urban infill, campus planning, historic preservation, zoning, and design guidelines.
Jonathan is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and serves on the Board of Directors for the Los Angeles section of the American Planning Association (APA) as the Vice Director for Professional Development. He is also active in local volunteer organizations. Jonathan's interests include public participation in the planning and design process, the intersection between transportation, public health and land use, and the ways in which new ideas and best practices get developed, discussed, and dispersed.
Jonathan previously served as Managing Editor of Planetizen and Project Manager/Project Planner for Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn (EE&K) Architects. He received a Master of Arts degree in Architecture from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Boston University.
Feds Get Behind Participatory Budgeting
Participatory budgeting (PB) has been tried on a limited local level in several cities across the United States. A new White House initiative indicates the practice may become a common way of determining how to distribute certain federal funds.
Detroit Blight Fight Begins in Earnest Monday
75 teams of surveyors will fan out across Detroit on Monday to begin cataloging the city's vacant buildings block-by-block. One of the leaders of the effort is estimating that eliminating blight could cost $1 billion.

The 100 "Best" Books on City-Making Ever Written?
After looking over his extensive library of books on urbanism, Brent Toderian selects the 100 best books on city-making that he's collected and read over the years.
Friday Funny: The World's Worst Place to Raise a Child
The Mariana Trench has beaten out Mt. Everest, the cone of Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano, and St. Louis to claim the title of the world's worst place to raise a child for the seventh consecutive year, reports the satirical newspaper The Onion.
Grant Helps Extend NYC Plaza Program into Less Affluent Areas
By transforming excess street space in areas like Times Square and Herald Square into pedestrian paradises, New York City's plaza program has been a huge hit. But with maintenance costs borne by local businesses, less affluent areas have missed out.