What makes a place?  And why is it important?  I have been thinking about these two questions quite a bit lately.  They are probably deeper questions than any of us realize; partly because the questions seem so simple, b... Read article

As I mentioned in my previous post, the heart of modern urban planning  is economic development. That includes not only helping the middle-class expand, but also creating conditions where people have a fighting chance of... Read article

In a conversation I recently had with a professional planner, we were discussing the role of non-profits in helping individuals and businesses build wealth.  He expressed his deep appreciation for organizations, such as ... Read article

In America, producing food has become the arena of large industrial farms operating with ultra efficiency. They have expansive tracts of land, large motorized equipment, unimaginable amounts of sugar-like substances and ... Read article

Urban planning is a field of study and practice that casts a wide net into a variety of related disciplines. Social and Fiscal Policy; Food Production (which I will discuss in a future post); Environmental Conser... Read article

Urban planning as a profession has a history of unilaterally imposing designs and policies on a public that has often been disappointed with the results. Judging by the majority of suburban landscape that has eaten up Am... Read article

With the budget in shambles and a crushing debt, United States policymakers are beginning to look anywhere they can to shed some extraneous dollars.  President Obama’s bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibil... Read article

Thirteen million and counting!  That is how many foreclosure filings have occurred in the U.S. since the recession began. The crisis may be slowing down, but that is up for debate. What is not debatable is that foreclos... Read article

In the past few years, as we have tried to make sense of the financial crisis and recession, plenty of blame has gone around: from Fannie and Freddie, to Wall Street, to OPEC, to the policies of more than one administrat... Read article

If the oil spike a couple years ago – and the one we are in the middle of now – has taught us anything, it is that something drastic needs to be done about our dependence on oil.  Eventually, the price reaches a point th... Read article