Chandigarh at 73: How a City Outgrew Its Utopia
09.16.2026
What happens when real life refuses to fit inside a utopian blueprint?
What happens when real life refuses to fit inside a utopian blueprint?
urban planning
New Orleans, Like Every City, Is Mortal
07.02.2026
For those of us concerned with the Crescent City’s survival, we must finally acknowledge a startling reality: New Orleans can be saved only if it first accepts that it might not be.
For those of us concerned with the Crescent City’s survival, we must finally acknowledge a startling reality: New Orleans can be saved only if it first accepts that it might not be.
Back to Earth: The Case for Lowering Speculative Land Values
05.26.2026
The question isn’t whether speculative pricing should be siphoned away, but whether it will happen through policy or crisis.
The question isn’t whether speculative pricing should be siphoned away, but whether it will happen through policy or crisis.
Rebooting Downtown, America’s Most Underperforming Neighborhood
03.30.2026
What if the central business district in your city became the best neighborhood? Here’s a roadmap.
What if the central business district in your city became the best neighborhood? Here’s a roadmap.
Learning to Reject the Transactional City
03.25.2026
As a Mexican American interested in the relational nature of cities, the author was fortunate to attend MIT when vestiges of radical planning still lingered.
As a Mexican American interested in the relational nature of cities, the author was fortunate to attend MIT when vestiges of radical planning still lingered.
Why Disband the Urban Design Group Just as New York City Ramps Up Housing Development?
02.02.2026
As the saying goes: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
As the saying goes: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Driving Toward Bankruptcy? L.A. Is Almost There
01.21.2026
We should be designing Los Angeles for 2075, not 1975.
We should be designing Los Angeles for 2075, not 1975.
It’s 2026: Time for a Comprehensive Plan for New York City
01.05.2026
Mayor Mamdani has the opportunity to finally provide a planning vision that supports residents and social value instead of the real estate industry.
Mayor Mamdani has the opportunity to finally provide a planning vision that supports residents and social value instead of the real estate industry.
You’re Not Antisocial, But Your Neighborhood Might Be
12.22.2025
When the physical form of a place supports proximity, routine encounters, and a diversity of public life, civic engagement doesn’t need to be engineered; it emerges.
When the physical form of a place supports proximity, routine encounters, and a diversity of public life, civic engagement doesn’t need to be engineered; it emerges.
A Requiem for MIT’s Room 10-485
11.03.2025
Memories of a space whose unique qualities helped nurture a burgeoning planner from East Los Angeles.
Memories of a space whose unique qualities helped nurture a burgeoning planner from East Los Angeles.
The Atlanta We Inherit: History, Architecture, and the Fight for Public Space
09.16.2025
A proposal to turn a John Portman-designed skybridge into a space that celebrates the city’s history and design legacy.
A proposal to turn a John Portman-designed skybridge into a space that celebrates the city’s history and design legacy.
Kansas City: Wandering the Middle Ground
09.08.2025
An L.A-born urban planner finds traces of home in the Midwest.
An L.A-born urban planner finds traces of home in the Midwest.
Courtyard Urbanism: What’s Missing From American Cities
08.19.2025
Why and how I became a citizen urban planner and advocate.
Why and how I became a citizen urban planner and advocate.
Confronting the Reality of Climate Displacement
07.14.2025
Planner Hillary Brown on how underpopulated areas across the U.S. could absorb population resettlements resulting from sea-level rise, flooding, wildfires, and extreme heat.
Planner Hillary Brown on how underpopulated areas across the U.S. could absorb population resettlements resulting from sea-level rise, flooding, wildfires, and extreme heat.
The Irony of Nigeria’s Resilient Democracy and Growing Legacy of Urban Tyranny
07.02.2025
Planning policies reflect a deep disdain for the poor, prioritizing elite aesthetics over social equity.
Planning policies reflect a deep disdain for the poor, prioritizing elite aesthetics over social equity.
Andrés Duany and Others on the Legacy of Léon Krier
06.30.2025
With tributes from Witold Rybczynski, Gerhard W. Mayer, James Howard Kuntsler, and Jeff Speck.
With tributes from Witold Rybczynski, Gerhard W. Mayer, James Howard Kuntsler, and Jeff Speck.
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