Can you believe that it is almost November? With 2020 fast approaching, I would like to highlight twelve events that planners, architects, and landscape architects can look forward to in the new year. [Read more…] about Looking Ahead to 2020: Events for Planners
Professional Development
“We Are a Movement”: Students advance Embedded Planning at the 2019 National Planning Conference
A district citizens’ group from East Harlem, in anticipation of a meeting it had arranged with the Mayor and his commissioners, prepared a document recounting the devastation wrought in the district by remote decisions (most of them well meant, of course), and they added this comment: “We must state how often we find that those of us who live or work in East Harlem, coming into daily contact with it, see it quite differently from . . . the people who only ride through on their way to work, or read about it in their daily papers, or, too often, we believe, make decisions about it from desks downtown.” I have heard almost these same words in Boston, in Chicago, in Cincinnati, in St. Louis. It is a complaint that echoes and re-echoes in all our big cities [emphasis added].
Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961)
Looking Ahead to 2019: Events for Planners
Can you believe that it is October already? With 2019 arriving in less than three months, I would like to highlight twelve events that planners, architects, and landscape architects can look forward to in the new year. [Read more…] about Looking Ahead to 2019: Events for Planners
An Urban Planner on the Ground in South Central Los Angeles
1.
I wear a blue County jacket and dark pants, denim or Dickies, when I’m out doing zoning enforcement inspections. This isn’t a regulation uniform. I don’t have to wear it. I’m an urban planner, not a cop. [Read more…] about An Urban Planner on the Ground in South Central Los Angeles
Looking Ahead to 2018: Events for Planners
With Thanksgiving and the holiday season fast approaching, this is perhaps a good time to look ahead to 2018. Specifically, I would like to talk about some events that planners, architects, and landscape architects can look forward to in the new year. [Read more…] about Looking Ahead to 2018: Events for Planners
Becoming a Scholar-Practitioner in Urban Planning
What is a scholar-practitioner in urban planning? And what does it take to become one? Essentially, scholar-practitioners bridge the gap between academia and the real world, combining scholarly research with practical application of theories and knowledge to solve complex problems in our profession. [Read more…] about Becoming a Scholar-Practitioner in Urban Planning
What makes a Utopia? – a review of Thomas More’s classic on its 500th anniversary
The year 2016 marked the 500th anniversary of the publishing of Thomas More’s book Utopia. Much has been written about the idea of Utopia and Utopian societies, stretching all the way back to ancient times. Since Thomas More gifted us a detailed physical description of his “good place,” I thought it would be fun to walk-through his land, 500 years later, give some simple measurements and compare it to some real places today. [Read more…] about What makes a Utopia? – a review of Thomas More’s classic on its 500th anniversary
Looking Ahead to 2017: Events for Planners
As we are now in the month of November, this is probably a good time to look ahead to 2017. Specifically, I would like to discuss some events that planners, architects, and landscape architects can look forward to in the new year. For those of you who follow my writing, you must know by now that I am a big fan of conferences. As I explained in Rest for the Weary Planner, I see conferences as opportunities to learn, grow, network, and be inspired and/or encouraged. I always return to work from conferences feeling refreshed and more prepared to take on the work that awaits me. In 2016, I was fortunate to be able to attend the APA California Planning Conference in Pasadena, CA. Without further ado, here are twelve conferences and meetings that may be of interest to those of us in the fields of planning, architecture, and landscape architecture: [Read more…] about Looking Ahead to 2017: Events for Planners
Empathy for the Devel . . . oper (with apologies to the Rolling Stones)
Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man trying to build homes. I’ve been in a long development permit process, seen many a soul go to waste.
Ok, that will be the last Rolling Stones distorted allusion in this op-ed.
Please close your eyes and imagine with me the reality that developers experience in the building application process …. [Read more…] about Empathy for the Devel . . . oper (with apologies to the Rolling Stones)
New Year’s Resolutions for Planners
A belated Happy New Year to you! I know that we are already in the middle of January, but perhaps some of us are still trying to figure out the resolutions or goals that we would like to accomplish this year. Well, if you would like some help or inspiration, here are some suggestions: [Read more…] about New Year’s Resolutions for Planners