A well intentioned ballot measure to raise affordable housing funds from big-dollar real estate transfers could kill the housing Los Angeles needs most.
Legislature Considers Diverse Range of Housing Bills
Even as cities strain under the weight of new housing regulations, legislators are trying new ideas and resurrecting old ones.
Book Review: Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
Review of How Big Things Get Done, by Bent Flyvbjerg.
Yet Again, Culprits for Gentrification Escape Blame
A restaurant critic wonders if they deserve blame for furthering gentrification in San Francisco. It’s an interesting, and utterly counterproductive, question.
Planners Across America: The Book
A collection of interviews with planning directors from some of the country’s 50 largest cities, published by Planetizen Press.
Litigation Over Housing Elements Focuses on Peninsula
Housing advocates are lawyering up to force Bay Area cities to produce more housing.
YIMBY Lawyers Sue 12 Bay Area Cities
Coming just days after the region’s RHNA deadline the lawsuits suggest pitched battle ahead over the Bay Area’s housing targets — and maybe even a Builder’s Remedy battle or two.
State Rewards Housing-Friendly Cities with “Prohousing” Designation
Attempting to ease tensions between cities and the state, HCD is given out the planning equivalent of gold stars.
New Los Angeles Mayor Picks Unnecessary Fights over “Luxury” Housing
Los Angeles needs every type of housing. Mayor Karen Bass doesn’t know that yet.
The Top Stories of 2022
2022 was an unusually action-packed year in California planning
Economic Headwinds Push Back on State Housing Goals
California desperately needs housing, but inflation and interest rates may hinder production.
The Top Urban Planning Books of 2022
An annual list of the must-read books related to urban planning and its intersecting fields.
Rating California’s New Transit Lines and Extensions
New public transit lines, extensions, and major upgrades have been opening up all over California lately. CP&DR reviews the impacts of these transformative, and not-so-transformative, projects.
Microtransit Changing the Landscape
App-based Rides Get Into the Public Transit Game
Housing (Mostly) Wins on Local Ballots
But measures calling for increased housing development potential met decidedly mixed results.
The Lawyer Behind The “Builder’s Remedy”
The attorney who is helping developers bring over 4,000 units to Santa Monica nearly overnight shares the nuances of the newly powerful Builder’s Remedy.
APA Conference: When Planners Wish Upon a Star
This week’s APA conference is located across the street from the “happiest place on earth” — with “place” in very ironic quotes. Here’s what Disneyland, and Disney’s latest “imagineering” efforts mean for planning today.
The Internal-Combustion Car Did Us A Favor
As California brings the gas-powered car era to a close, let’s remember: It was just awful enough, at just the right moment, to inspire a revolution in land use regulation.