World

Global issues, U.N., etc.

Coronavirus

The Great Scandinavian Pandemic Experiment

Perhaps no nation has captured more media attention in its handling of the coronavirus pandemic than Sweden. Unlike most of Europe, it never went into lockdown, relying mostly on voluntary social distancing. The state epidemiologist devised the plan.

May 13, 2020 - Financial Times

Restaurant Business

Lessons from the Pandemic: Housing, Retail, Broadband

Second in a series of conversations about what comes next in local government policies and processes, this time between Geoff Koski and Ben Brown on housing, retail, and broadband

May 12, 2020 - PlaceShakers

Factory Emissions

Carbon Emissions Down, but Not Drastically

Transportation activity is down considerably, but other sources of carbon dioxide are still going strong.

May 12, 2020 - Grist

Street Traffic in Manhattan

Urban Planning in a Post-Pandemic World

The coronavirus crisis is highlighting the contributions of cities as well as their vulnerabilities and the planning issues that need to be priorities in the future.

May 11, 2020 - The City Fix

Coronavirus and Lime

Can the Scooter Business Outlast the Coronavirus?

It's the end of the scooter as we know it.

May 11, 2020 - Smart Cities Dive

Stay-at-Home Orders

After the Plague: Go Big or Go Backwards?

Among unwelcome lessons of COVID-19 is growing evidence of what was already broken in politics and business. Ben Brown looks at making bold changes in order to improve the lives of the left out and left behind.

May 10, 2020 - PlaceShakers

Coronavirus Volunteering

100 Million 'New Poor' Predicted as a Result of the Pandemic

The fiscal effects of the pandemic are likely to make it very difficult for governments to invest in economic and quality of life improvements for people on the edge of poverty.

May 6, 2020 - Thomson Reuters Foundation

2019 National Planning Conference

No More Large Conferences and Trade Shows This Year

Don’t delude yourself. The likelihood that we attend large conferences and trade shows this year in the same way as before is slim to none.

May 5, 2020 - Iot Times

Social Distancing

Report: Expect to Live with Two More Years of Social Distancing

As a majority of states relax stay-at-home restrictions, a prestigious team of experts from the University of Minnesota, Harvard and Tulane universities warns that the coronavirus will likely last 18 to 24 more months, returning in successive waves.

May 4, 2020 - CNN

Coronavirus Hygiene

Urban Planning Resources for COVID-19

Online misinformation has been unavoidable, but the Internet is also full of tools essential for understanding the changed world of COVID-19.

May 4, 2020 - James Brasuell

Open Space Trails

A Love Letter to the Bicycle

Riding a bicycle is not only a coping mechanism; it's also a way to protect ourselves during the coronavirus pandemic.

April 29, 2020 - The Star

Group Walk

Jane's Walks Adjusts to Social Distancing

The Jane's Walks festival take place the first weekend of May in cities all over the world. In 2020, social distancing will require a different format for the citizen-led group walk event.

April 28, 2020 - The Star

Tel Aviv Foundation

'This Crisis Will Reshape the Way We Understand City Living'

Tel Aviv Foundation’s CEO says city leaders need to listen and be patient to learn from the current crisis. Also, large events, festivals, tourists, and crowds won’t be back for some time, but that could be a good thing

April 23, 2020 - Cities of the Future

Paris Street

Is it Time to Revive the Pattern Language?

Software and other fields have made brilliant progress with the pattern language methodology, while built environment fields lag badly, mired in parochial debates over the massive book that invented the methodology.

April 21, 2020 - Michael Mehaffy

Drive-Through Coronavirus Testing

U.S. Needs to More Than Triple Testing Before States Can Open, Study Says

The United States currently tests about 145,000 people daily. A Harvard study calls for a minimum of 500,000 daily, but that's on the low end if the country wants to prevent shutting down again due to a second wave of the coronavirus.

April 20, 2020 - The New York Times

NYC from Hoboken

How the Post-Pandemic Future Could Resemble the Pre-Pandemic Future

Response to coronavirus challenges in urban settings will likely be a continuity of work started decades ago.

April 16, 2020 - CityLab

Italy Coronavirus

Overcoming Social Distance

People are finding new ways to connect digitally across physical spaces during the coronavirus pandemic, and these temporary solutions could have a lasting impact on the way we live.

April 13, 2020 - Lev Kushner

Washington, D.C. Coronavirus

The Geography of Occupations: Some Neighborhoods Will Suffer More Than Others Under COVID-19

Census Bureau data shows we live near people with similar occupations, and right now frontline jobs are riskier for both health and economic well-being than working from home.

April 10, 2020 - Jonathan Stiles

Connectivity

The Dots of Connectivity and Broken Cultural Links

Connectivity is not just a question of geometry, according to this article by Fanis Grammenos. It's critical to consider what people connect for and how.

April 1, 2020 - Fanis Grammenos

COVID-19

How Coronavirus Will Change Cities, From Public to Private Lives

Changes are coming, but they don't have to be anti-urban, and they could mean a more resilient world for cities and communities of all shapes and sizes.

April 1, 2020 - Rice Kinder Institute for Urban Research: The Urban Edge

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.