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
Seattle Planning Director Pursues Equity Amid a Pro-Growth Agenda
An interview with Seattle Planning Director Sam Assefa for the latest installment of the “Planners Across America” series.
Lago Approaches New York City as a ‘City of Neighborhoods’
The latest installment of the “Planners Across America” series features New York City Planning Director and Planning Commission Chair Marisa Lago.
Sober Living Facilities Raise Zoning Concerns
Though comprehensive data is hard to find, the proliferation of sober living homes is thought to be particularly intense in coastal California, where the climate and lifestyle are marketed to prospective residents
On Seismology and the Humanities
No one academic discipline is inherently more interesting, more fun, or more professionally valuable than any other.
College Essays and the Misuse of ‘Voice’
To an inexperienced or reluctant writer — which describes many college applicants — advice about “voice” is scarcely more useful than merely saying, “Write well.”
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
2017 Year-in-Review
As usual, the bulk of my work appeared in the California Planning & Development Report, where we covered a tremendously interesting year in land use, often focusing on the need for housing and the many forces that frustrate its development. I was delighted to again contribute to Planetizen, Next City, Boom, and — new this year — Common Edge.
Undoing the Legacy of Segregation in California
However integrated the United States may be today, Rothstein pointed out a damning truism: the country cannot de-segregate just because laws have changed.
The Opposite of Gentrification
If these communities are going to, at the same time, decry the invasion of newcomers and oppose most development, then they face but one option: they must promote development elsewhere.