Booked on Planning

In this episode we talk about the New Econ 101, a 2015 collection of four articles highlighting innovative economic approaches pulled together by Next City. The topics covered include utilizing co-ops to bolster underrepresented economies, a comparison of top down versus grass-roots urban district redevelopment in Kansas City, anchor institutes deploying a social design type approach to neighborho...

Anchor institutions have been around in our cities for a long time, but innovation districts, a more intentional approach, is somewhat new. In this episode we talk with author Matt Enstice about his book City Forward which gets into the details of how to use innovation districts to support the neighboring community in an equitable way. Matt is uniquely situated to provide insight into how innovati...

Since 2015, the Island Press Urban Resilience Project (URP) has worked to imagine and inspire the sustainable, equitable, resilient cities of the future. The project brings together thought leaders with a broad range of expertise to generate and cross-pollinate ideas. Those ideas are then shared via articles, op-eds, and interviews that are published in prominent online and print media outlets. A...

The ideal city, a utopia of sorts, has been the goal of America since its founding. First we immigrated to find freedom to thrive in the new world, then we moved west to find it on the open frontier, we left cities for the suburban utopia, and finally, we redeveloped our blighted urban cores to create it from within. With each period in our history, we have attempted to create the ideal mix of tow...

In 2012, Jeff’s book sounded the alarm that cars are the central problem of American life, and that making downtown more walkable is the necessary fix for the typical American City. Ten years later, following COVID, the rise of ride share, and the escalating climate crisis, Speck returned with a 10th Anniversary edition that assesses the impacts of these events and the changes that have taken plac...

In 2012, Jeff’s book sounded the alarm that cars are the central problem of American life, and that making downtown more walkable is the necessary fix for the typical American City. Ten years later, following COVID, the rise of ride share, and the escalating climate crisis, Speck returned with a 10th Anniversary edition that assesses the impacts of these events and the changes that have taken plac...

As individuals we need to be aware that we experience place all the time and that we have the power to shape how we experience place. We need to be intentional with economic development to ensure our places are prosperous and prosperous in an enduring way. Place and prosperity does not always go together, but regions with strong place characteristics bounce back quicker and facilitate prosperity....

Segregation was not solely an individual invention, but was supported by government actions like housing policy and “if it’s unconstitutional, then we have an obligation to remedy it.”  Links: The Planning Commissioner podcast : mentioned during one of Jennifer’s follow up comments Segregated by Design : Short film narrated by Richard Rothstein Just Action : pre-order site Short review of the book...

Behind every successful city is thoughtful planning for the future, but it’s not enough to just plan for the future of communities, we also need to plan with the future. We need to image what the future might look like to shape it in a responsible, sustainable, and equitable way. The past few years have taught us change can happen rapidly, whether we are prepared or not. While no one could have pr...

Affordable housing has been around long before the programs of recent history, dating to the 19th century. To adequately provide for it requires a varied approach to serving all income levels, from the most impoverished to moderate-income families. This means both supply and demand side programs paired together, with voucher programs across the board and low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) proje...

Planning and problems of the city are synonymous, merging into the economics, sociology, and politics of cities which are reflective of their time. In Cities of Tomorrow, author Peter Hall says, “historical actors do perform in response to the world they find themselves in and in particular to the problems that they confront in that world.” This book is focused on the late 19th and 20th centuries,...

Missing middle housing—the cottage court, townhomes and duplexes, and low-rise apartment units, are becoming more essential in city development. Missing middle has shifted from a good to know by planners, city officials, and developers to a need to know. This type of housing unit is becoming increasingly important to single person households and downsizing boomers who want to live in more walkable...

One of the main areas for improving our approach to planning for resilience is improving communication between departments and communication between plans. Our hazard mitigation plans should be incorporating action items from climate action plans and our comprehensive plans should be including the hazard mitigation plan information. It’s not enough to just reference the document, but all city plan...

Pedestrian and Transit Oriented Design is not a book about design but a book about policy and process. Change doesn’t happen all at once, despite our desire, so we must make decisions about priorities and which changes happen in the first wave of upgrades and which will come later. This book helps to set those priorities by laying out three chapters with essential, highly desirable, and worthwhile...

To summarize an 800 page book in three points, cities should charge the right price for curb parking (the lowest price that maintains one to two open spaces), spend the revenue on the neighborhood with upgrades like planting trees, cleaning and upgrading sidewalks, providing transit passes, and remove off-street parking requirements. If we stop to think about the parking situation, we will realize...

Planning for climate change can take many forms from a climate action plan or chapter in a comprehensive plan to addressing concerns over limited water and drought without using politically charged terms like climate change. The Climate Planner is a great resource not just for a climate planning process, but any public planning process. With the situation we are facing planners cannot ignore plann...

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is exactly what its name suggests, a geographic method for organizing information in a system. GIS is the digital version of the field of geography, a field comprised of environmental, societal, and economic factors, and uses a geographic approach that brings together problem solving and integration by layering maps to visualize trends and design solutions. Who...

Transportation enables...fill in the blank. Transportation is so integral to our daily lives that it has an impact on economic development, mobility and connectivity, public health, the environment, and the list goes on. As a result, planning for transportation does not occur in a static world, but a dynamic system that is constantly changing. Adaptation is key because what we put in place now wil...

Planning theory and laws are constantly evolving and changing. We need to continue to learn, think, and have conversations and dialogue. It is not enough to understand the core concepts, but we should go further to push the boundaries to get our communities to the next level and evolve the way we live. No longer is the status quo sufficient as we have begun to re-examination of the foundations of...

As access to information and technology has improved over the past 20 years, so has the field of Hazard Mitigation. What began as an “everyone for themselves” approach to hazards and natural disasters has evolved into a complex system of not just responding to these events in a coordinated manner but preparing our communities in advance. Hazard mitigation planning reduces loss of life and property...

Historic preservation as a field has evolved dramatically since its inception with the preservation of George Washington’s house. This evolution can be seen in the changes within each of the three editions of Historic Preservation: An Introduction to Its History, Principles, and Practice. During our discussion, the authors stressed the need to stop separating preservation from other government fun...

In its fourth iteration, the Geography of Urban Transportation has evolved alongside our transportation system. What has not changed however is the need for good data to understand why people make the choices they do. Often it’s a reaction to policy decisions that have created an auto dominated culture. As the authors point out, American’s do not love cars any more than other countries, but our po...

Rachel Carson became a guiding spirit of the modern environmental movement with her groundbreaking 1962 best seller “Silent Spring.” It forced us to reconsider our fundamental faith in science and technology. Carson discussed her findings and with plenty of examples makes a passionate plea for the future of the planet, calling on us to act as stewards of the environment. In this episode we dive in...

Zoning tells us what we can do and where. It was created as a way to organize our cities and separate uses that were incompatible such as a factory from a housing development. But the way we zone land is contrary to the rest of the world which is neither good nor bad, just different according to the author Sonia Hirt. We talk in this episode about how zoning is part of American culture and how our...

Pedestrian safety is trending in the wrong direction with the number of pedestrian deaths in the U.S. hitting record highs. Former Streetsblog USA writer Angie Schmitt dives deep into the topic in her latest book “Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America.” Schmitt discusses the dangers of America’s transportation infrastructure as it relates to pedestrians...