If the Uberpocalypse (Lyftaclysm?) transpires, cities are going to find themselves time-warped back to 2009
Thunberg’s Voyage May Be a Stunt, But She Has a Point for Planners
If we can rebuild our cities according to those models, with an eye towards human scale and away from the automobile, Americans won’t need to travel abroad just so they can find a decent sidewalk cafe.
Stalled California housing bill could give architects chance to redesign the state’s cities
The quality of design that follows the passage of the next version of SB 50 will, without exaggeration, determine the look, feel, and function of California cities for at least the next generation.
Sometimes Civic Ambition Should Aim Lower
The San Jose tower falls into the all-too-common trap of mistaking a skyline for a city.
Gentrification Studies Must Inspire Solutions
The study of gentrification took center stage at the recent conference of the Urban Affairs Association. It’s up to planners to put all of that research to good use.
How an Arizona Outpost Quenches California’s Thirst
Water influences urban planning only in the broadest sense. It doesn’t tell us where to build or in what configuration. But it determines how many of us can live here.
High Speed Rail is Dead, Long Live High Speed Rail
As a piece of urbanism, Newsom’s revised experiment in high speed rail will be fascinating, and perhaps revelatory
Beating the Amazon Con
In short, cities should quit wasting money on corporate welfare and, if they’re going to proactively pursue economic development programs (itself a measure of dubious value), they should stick to homegrown assets. The pursuit of Amazon in particular, though, was as ironic as it was perverse.
The Clarity of Robert Venturi
Robert Venturi, who died last week at 93, was not an urbanist as such. But in rejecting modernism and bringing honesty to discussions about aesthetics, Venturi deserves a debt of gratitude from planners and other architects alike.
Eviction Is Only Part Of The Housing Crisis
I think I was the only reader in the country unmoved by Evicted, Matthew Desmond’s Pulitzer Prize-winning inquiry into the dark heart of America’s eviction crisis
The Sad Debate Over SB 827
Few land use laws captured the public imagination and animated the land use community the way SB 827 did in its three short months on this earth
Reconsidering Paradise: How Honolulu Became a Poster Child for American Autocentric Urbanism
Honolulu should be the most distinctive city in the country. Instead, Honolulu looks like Houston with volcanoes.
Yelp in My Backyard
Yelp is one of the few tech companies whose product is linked, intrinsically and immutably, to the real world.
Sierra Club California Blazes Wrong Trail on Urbanism
Mountains may stand forever, but advocacy groups are fragile. For the good of California and the country — especially these days — I hope the Sierra Club rebuilds and refocuses itself before it’s too late.
California Cities, Counties Grapple With Cannabis
Mountains may stand forever, but advocacy groups are fragile. For the good of California and the country — especially these days — I hope the Sierra Club rebuilds and refocuses itself before it’s too late.
A Tale of Two Cities: Tourism and Imperialism in Sri Lanka
The semi-palindromic nature of the names Ella and Galle, while coincidental, are poignant nonetheless. They are two sides of the same coin. The question is whether that coin is a guilder, a pence, a rupee—or the almighty dollar.
The Transit Crisis Is Really A Housing Crisis
Los Angeles’ shortage of housing and shortage of high-density transit-friendly neighborhoods has run headlong into the obscene, bacchanalian overabundance of automobiles