I send warm greetings from Los Angeles and hope you are all healthy and safe wherever you may be. I am in the annual lull following the college application season. My students had a fantastic …
On Tea and Density in Old Delhi
The best tea shop in Old Delhi is not a shop at all. It’s a cart, a bottle of propane, a guy, and his assistant…
YIMBYism’s Golden Moment
In Golden Gates, Conor Dougherty chronicles the rise of the YIMBY movement and California’s battle over housing — with the aplomb of an East Bay skateboarder
What’s On The March 2020 Ballot?
A typical jumble of land-use measures — but they suggest California’s future direction
How Los Angeles Landed Its First Olympics
Barry Siegel’s new book about the 1932 Olympics shows how much chutzpah counted in early Los Angeles
New Housing Laws Bring Design Standards to Fore
To cut down on discretionary review, new housing laws require cities to approve housing projects so long as they conform to “objective” design standards. Cities are scrambling to draft standards that promote housing and promote desired aesthetic goals
Year-in-Review 2019
Not until the first week of December or so did I realize that the change of the year also ushered in a change of decade. My ignorance must have been due to equal parts denial …
Wiener Loses Again. Or Does He?
SB 50 went down in flames once more. But the bill gave the state cover for other bills that would otherwise would have been considered radical. And RHNA is forcing upzoning all over the state.
Top California Planning Stories of the 2010s
CP&DR’s retrospective of the triumphs, failures, and tensions that influenced California’s built environment in the 2010s
Luxury (and Layups) at the Chase Center
The Golden State Warriors’ privately financed arena in San Francisco reflects the moneyed interests of big tech.
Bidding Unhappy Trails to the Old Retail Landscape
The “retail apocalypse” has claimed a particularly unfortunate victim: the homegrown outdoor equipment chain Adventure 16. California’s cities and wilderness are both worse off
Inadvertent Praise For California’s Environmental Ethic
This Land skewers the federal land management agencies — and, in the process, indirectly provides a good reason to keep CEQA and California’s other environmental laws
The Top Urban Planning Books of the Decade
These 14 books, selected by Planetizen for lasting relevance and excellence in research and rhetoric, will continue to define the ambitions and the shortcomings of the urban planning field in the decade that was the 2010s.
The Top Urban Planning Books of 2019
The decade wraps up with another engaging crop of highly readable and recommendable books on the subject of urban planning. There’s a lot to learn, on many related subjects, among this year’s top planning books.
El Cerrito Discovers Key to Infill Planning
While many Bay Area cities resist growth, El Cerrito is booming with transit oriented plan on San Pablo Avenue
Tightening The Belt
China’s Belt and Road Initiative is tying the world together—but what’s the end game?
Mobility Revolution Arriving Fast … and Slow
Advances in mobility technologies — from electric cars to robotic shopping carts — are dazzling. But planners will be hard-pressed to predict which ones will prevail.
The Coming Uberapocalypse
If the Uberpocalypse (Lyftaclysm?) transpires, cities are going to find themselves time-warped back to 2009