This is the single largest, comprehensive, exhaustive and
current listing of urban planning websites on the Internet.
The webmaster for About Planning has been the "urban planning" category editor for two (2) of the three (3) largest Internet directories. Each directory maintains over 2 million websites. Once you have checked out the 300 sites here, you won't need to visit another directory again. The editor constantly updates this site and reviews each site carefully for planning content, relevance and functionality. The About Planning editor has some favorites ( J ), least favorites ( L ) and indifference ( K ).
About Planning - Top 10 Web Sites:
- American Planning Association.J Professional association organized to advance the art and science of planning and to foster the activity of planning in America.
- Congress for New Urbanism. J Non-profit organization that works with architects, developers, and planners, teaching how to implement the principles of new urbanism.
- Cyburbia.J For people interested in cities and the built environment, contains a selective directory of Internet resources relevant to planning and urbanism.
- PlannersWeb. J Information on zoning ordinances, land use, comprehensive plans, subdivision regulation, transportation, housing, urban design, takings-property rights.
- Planum. J Selected European planning journals, an extensive planning web guide, archives of plans, and events from the town and regional planning world.
- Planetizen. J Information exchange featuring news, job opportunities, commentary, publications and events.
- Smart City Radio. J Weekly, hour-long PBS talk show that interviews designers, elected officials, developers, planners and others in discussions of urban issues.
- Smart Growth America. J Nationwide coalition that keeps housing affordable, preserves scenic/historic resources, and makes communities more livable.
- Urbanicity. J Provides city officials with a platform to explore aspects of urban management.
- Urban Land Institute. J Non-profit education and research institute with focus on the use of land. Information on development, planning and managing growth.
Academic Institutions/Institutes:
- Cascade Policy Institute. K Nonprofit research organization to focus on state/local issues, to foster individual liberty, personal responsibility, and economic opportunity.
- Center for Urban and Regional Policy. K Northeaster University - A "think and do tank" where faculty, staff, and students pool their expertise, resources, and commitment to address a wide range of issues facing cities, towns, and suburbs.
- Center for Community Change. K Poverty advocate organization summarizes pending legislation affecting development of poor neighborhoods and tell readers how to take action.
- Center for Economic Development. K University of Massachusetts, the center assists cities, towns and organizations to retain and expand their employment base.
- Lincoln Institute for Land Policy. K Seeks to improve the quality of debate and disseminate knowledge of critical issues by bringing together scholars, policy makers, practitioners and citizens. (Warning!!! You may not be able to navigate back from this site).
- Madii Institute. K Facilitates community capacity building and transformation through publications and community member training.
- Solimar Research Group. K Providing empirical research and policy analysis on land-use, metropolitan growth patterns, and related policy concerns.
- Thoreau Institute. K The Institute seeks ways to protect the environment without regulation, bureaucracy, or central control.
- Urbanage Institute. K Independent non-profit organization, working to support innovators based inside the world's cities and delivering programs around the globe.
- Urban Futures. K A project of Reason Public Policy Institute. Promotes voluntary, private-sector and market-oriented solutions to sprawl and other urban problems.
- Urban Institute. K Non-profit Washington, DC-based research institute and publishing house posts a large body of social-science and policy-research materials
- Urban Land Institute. K Non-profit education and research institute with focus on the use of land. Information on development, planning and managing growth.
- Urban Research Initiative. K New York University research reports/virtual library on impacts of information/communications technologies on cities and metropolitan regions.
Associations/Organizations:
- American Farmland Trust. J Working nationwide to protect farmland from urban sprawl -- by working with individual farmers and communities, and by promoting better public policies at the local, state and federal level, and by educating the public.
- Bruner Foundation. K Recognizes those urban places which incorporate meaningful values, integrative processes, and good design.
- Design That Matters. K Non-profit helping underserved communities improve their quality of life while providing class work for engineering and business students.
- Environmental Justice Resource Center. K Based in Clark Atlanta University, this group works against sprawl and for environmental justice in the Atlanta, GA, area, and it publishes studies and books about sprawl in Atlanta.
- Land Trust Alliance. K Promotes voluntary land conservation by providing resources, skills, and information to people who want to set up land trusts.
- Trust for Public Lands. K A national non-profit organization that helps communities protect land and provides information on urban sprawl and other conservation topics.
Citizen Involvement:
and professionals involved in complex land use issue.
information to local officials serving on planning boards and zoning boards of appeals.
Directories and Guides:
- America's Most Livable Communities. K Presents a list of US cities that have such amenities as culture, parks, and interesting neighborhoods. Find resources on improving livability in other areas.
- Change Communication. K Internet company offers links covering many aspects of urban development, including jobs, organizations, conferences and publications.
- Graduate School Programs. K Find programs in urban and regional planning by selecting parts of the United States or other countries from a geographical index.
- Links for Planners.K Cornell University's Department of Regional Planning's Index of links to socioeconomic, housing and land-use (last updated July 2000).
- Neighborhoods Online. K An online resource center for people working to build and revitalize strong communities throughout the United States.
- Online Planning Forum. K Encourages dialog among professionals about planning issues. Includes online planning-related information.
- PlaNet. K Network fostering cooperation and communication between planning students in European cities.
- Sapling. K Annotated links to websites, books and news in the fields of planning, built environment, economic development, geographical information systems, local government, regional development and spatial development.
- Urban Planning Topics. L Dedicated to providing information and resources on urban and regional planning and environmental issues (last updated in 1997).
- Urbitopia. K Urban research gateway based in Berlin, Germany.
Environmental Planning:
- EcoGateway Anthologies. K Guide to online resources serves the information and communication needs of individuals and organizations working to protect our environment and create a sustainable future.
- Urban Ecology. K An organization dedicated to building ecologically and socially healthy cities.
- Urban Environmental Management. K A grouping of urban planning researchers from around the world that look at urban areas as the intersection of natural, built, and socio-economic environments.
GIS/Spatial Analysis/Statistics:
- Aspects of Modern Geography. K Information about the mobility habits of urban people including urban planning, transportation planning and psycho-social habits.
- Center for Land Use Interpretation. K Research organization involved in exploring, examining, and understanding land and landscape issues. It employs a variety of methods to pursue its stated aim, engaging in research, classification, extrapolation, and exhibition.
- Online Planning. K Explores the impact of Internet based communications on the planning process. Includes an exercise in VRML based public participation and town planning.
Housing:
- Building Better Communities Network. K An information clearinghouse and communication forum dedicated to building inclusive communities and to successfully siting affordable housing and community services.
Jobs and Employment:
Law/Legislation/Codes:
- Cornell Law School. K An overview of land use law Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute.
- Land Use Law Center. K Pace University. Provides research and technical assistance to attorneys, planners, governmental officials, community leaders, and citizen groups.
- Ordinance.com. K Pay site with free sections providing land use ordinances, maps, design guides, and similar services. Registration required.
New Urbanism:
- New Urban Timeline. K A searchable database of key events in the history of new urbanism, as well as historical influences.
- New Urbanism. K New Urbanist site promotes the creation and restoration of compact, walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods, towns, and cities.
- The Town Paper. K Publications about urbanism and town design, charrettes, public outreach, and educational debate. Includes an archive of articles and links to traditional neighborhood developments.
- Urbanism. K Blog reporting on architecture, urban design, landscape architecture, public art, suburbanism, and urbanism issues.
Open/Public Spaces:
- Greenbelt Alliance. K Protects open space in the nine county San Francisco Bay Area. This group has protected threatened lands and helped convince a number of local governments to implement urban growth boundaries.
- Project for Public Spaces.J Non-profit technical assistance, research and educational organization whose mission is to create and sustain public places that build communities.
- Scenic America. J Information and resources from an advocacy organization that wants to protect the scenic qualities of communities and roadways.
- Urban Residue. L Papers on the nature of public space and profiles of progressive urban areas. (Warning!!! Slow to load).
Professional Development:
- PlanningPrep. K Offers preparation services for the AICP exam, including practice questions and exams, and community forums.
Publications - Books:
- City: Rediscovering the Centre. William Whyte.
- Good City Form. Kevin Lynch (1995).
- Introduction to Planning History. Donald Krueckerberg (1997).
- Site Planning. Kevin Lynch
- The City in History. Lewis Mumford (1972).
- The Image of the City. Kevin Lynch (1968)
- The Urban Prospect. Lewis Mumford (1968).
- Silent Spring. Rachel Carson (1962).
- Urban Land Use Planning. F.Stuart Chapin and Edward Kaiser (1979).
Publications - Essays/Interviews:
Publications - Periodicals:
- Archis. J Online and in print magazine articles from European monthly on architecture, city, and visual culture.
- ArchNewsNow. Online archive of an e-mail newsletter. Links to architecture, design and construction stories, mostly from mainstream media.
- Berkley Planning Journal. K Scholarly graduate student journal offers articles on issues in urban planning. Read current and past issues up to 2001.
- Citistates Group. K Network of journalists, speakers and advisers committed to competitive, equitable and sustainable 21st century metropolitan regions.
- City Journal. K Quarterly created to communicate to a broad and influential audience innovative ideas about restoring the quality of life to America's cities.
- Critical Planning. K Student-run journal published since 1993 by the UCLA Department of Urban Planning. Serves as a forum to debate issues that impact cities and regions, particularly in the context of planning and policy making.
- EcoQ Magazine. K Selected articles and editorials on urban issues.
- Governing Magazine. K Designed for state and local government officials, Governing Magazine offers research and commentary on urban issues.
- Journal of Urban Affairs. K Quarterly magazine on urban research. Find subscription information and abstracts of selected articles.
- Land Development Today. K A monthly online magazine developed for land development industry professionals and features articles on surveying, civil design, landscape and irrigation design, and current technology.
- Living Room - The Sububurbia Project. J A collection of essays covering urban and suburban design, transportation modalities, habitat preservation, urban farming, and social and environmental economics.
- Metropolis. J Magazine examines culture through the lens of graphic design and other arts. Analyzes everything from desk lamps to sidewalks to computer games.
- New Urban News. J Newsletter covering new urbanism: smart growth, livable communities, and traditional neighborhood development.
- New Village. K A magazine that documents enlightened leadership in community planning, development, and renewal.
- Open House International. K Journal focusing on improving the built environment and the decision-making processes that influence its development. Includes abstracts, notes, history, and subscription information.
- Plan. K The newsletter of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's School of Architecture and Planning, is published both on paper and online.
- Planning. L Online version of the British journal Planning Magazine. Includes news, features, consultants index and forum. (Warning!!! You may not be able to navigate back from this site).
- Planning and Markets. K Electronic journal dedicated to the study of planned interventions versus market approaches.
- Planning Forum. K Journal published by the School of Architecture, University of Texas at Austin. Includes abstracts and full articles, back issues, submission guidelines, and subscription information.
- The Next American City. J A national magazine that explores the transformation of America's cities and suburbs, asking questions about how and why our economy, society and culture are changing.
- Terrain. K A journal of the built and natural environments, featuring articles, essays, editorials, poetry, fiction, artwork, and the "UnSprawl" case studies.
- Tidepool. K Provide the bioregional community with a daily source of the news they need to create a conservation based economy.
- Town Paper. K Publications about urbanism and town design for public outreach, reporting and educational debate. Includes an archive of articles and links to traditional neighborhood developments.
Smart Growth/Growth Management:
- Encouraging Smarth Growth. K U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presents this guide to urban planning and development with the environment in mind. Check out publications and funding sources.
- Growth Managment. K Resources for creating and maintaining economically vibrant and socially and environmentally satisfying communities (International Council of Shopping Centers).
- Growth Management Institute. K Goal is to educate and inform the public on responsible land use and related issues including sustainable urban development and redevelopment.
- Growth Management Toolbox. K Site created by students at the University of Virginia, Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, School of Architecture to be useful to a broad audience, including both citizens and decision-makers from across the country.
- Quality Growth Tool Kit. K Publication by the Partnership for Quality Growth containing recommendations for planners. In .pdf format.
- Smarter Land Use Project. K Focuses on improving the quality of proposed developments in settled areas. Includes a citizens guidebook for achieving effective collaboration.
Sustainability:
- Megacities Foundation. K Assembles knowledge and understanding for all imaginable disciplines in an attempt to comprehend the essence of urban growth in the megacities.
- Metropolis. K An international association of global cities working towards developing solutions to issues affecting large cities such as urban planning and development, the economy, the environment, transport, infrastructure and communications.
- Neighborhood Planning. K Site covers neighborhood planning as a comprehensive approach to community development.
- Sustainable City. K A non-profit organization dedicated to achieving a sustainable future for San Francisco.
- Sustainable Communities Network. J Connects citizens with resources to implement innovative processes and programs to restore the economic, environmental, and social health and vitality of their communities.
Terms/Definitions/Glossaries:
- Parole. L A thesaraus of modern concepts in urban development. For each there is a definition, bibliography and its source publication.
Tools & Techniques:
- Best Practices Database. K Searchable database of solutions to the common social, economic, and environmental problems of urbanization.
- Charette Center. K Information on planning, conducting, and implementing results from design charettes.
- National Charrette Institute. K A non-profit educational institution committed to teaching professionals the theory and practice of facilitating public planning charrettes and sharing the lessons learned.
- Urban Advantage. J Digital technology can aid in visualizing growth options, allow wide sharing of those visions, and speed up the learning process to turn visions into reality.
- UrbanSimulation. K A portal to the urban simulation community at the crossroads between urbanism and technology to visualize, analyze and simulated the built environment in 3D.
Transportation:
- Bike Plan Source. K Bicycle planning, advocacy, and program development. Features a planning guide, resource list, and news.
- Carfree.com. K Proposes solutions to the vexing problem of urban automobiles.
- Great Streets. K Profiles of cities with thriving main streets, an examination of the details that make them successful, and a look the fictional River City (movie "The Music Man").
- National Transit Institute. K Training, education, and clearinghouse services in support of public transportation in the United States.
- Reconnecting America. K A national organization focused on the link between transportation and community development, providing resources on transit-oriented development, intercity travel, and new urbanism.
- Transportation Research Board. K Promotes innovation and progress in transportation by stimulating and conducting research, facilitating the dissemination of information, and encouraging the implementation of research results.
- Walkable Communities. K A non-profit consulting firm which provides advice on how communities can become more pedestrian-friendly. Includes extensive recommended reading list and downloadable reports and photos.
Urban Design/Buildable Cities:
- Creative Spaces. K Inspiration, ideas and support for creative community involvement in urban design.
- Local Government Commission. K A nonprofit organization working to build livable communities. Covers topics including community design, economic development, sustainable energy sources, transportation, and waste prevention.
- Mayor's Institute on City Design. K Dedicated to improving the design and livability of America's cities through the efforts of their chief elected leaders, their mayors.
- Urban Development/Good Neighbor Program. K The General Services Adminstrationn endeavors to leverage federal real estate actions in ways that bolster community efforts to encourage smart growth, economic vitality, and cultural vibrancy.
Urban History:
- H-Urban. K Enable historians and others interested in urban history to communicate current research and research interests easily.
- Rice University - Cities in History. K Series of 10 architecture lectures examines the changes in cities over time. Cities covered include Cairo, Athens, Rome, Beijing and Jerusalem.
- Urban History Association. K Founded in Cincinnati in 1988 for the purpose of stimulating interest and forwarding research and study in the history of the city in all periods and geographical areas.
- Urban Planning: 1794-1918. K An international anthology of primary source material for the study of how urban planning developed up to the end of World War I. Includes articles, conference papers, and reports.
Urban Renewal/Redevelopment/Historic Preservation:
- International Making Cities Livable. K Interdisciplinary network of individuals and cities dedicated to making cities more livable, through conferences, publications, consulting, and teaching.
Urban Sprawl:
- Community and Environmental Defense Services. J This is where to go if you are working locally against unsustainable development. They will give you advice on how to run a grassroots campaign and on where to find legal and other professional help.
- Preservation Institute - Stopping Sprawl. K Group believes that modernization also damages the social environment and that many of our social problems are side-effects of modernization and economic growth.
- RTNDA - Covering Sprawl. J Radio-Television New Director Association's free guiide to reporters on how to cover sprawl.
- Sierra Club - Stopping Sprawl. J The challenge to the sprawl campaign works to fight poorly planned runaway development and promotes smart growth communities.
- Solutions Not Sprawl. J Home of the Citizens Alliance for Responsible Transportation, an anti-sprawl advocacy group in the Washington, D.C. area.
- Sprawl Brawl. K Commentaries and analysis about sprawl and growth-planning from Reason, a conservative journal.
- Sprawl Busters. K One of the earliest sites to target sprawl. Arguments and statistics to support campaigns against sprawl developments.
- Sprawl City. J Focuses on consumption and population growth and their roles in urban sprawl and its effect on natural habitat and farmland around U.S. cities.
- Sprawl Guide. J Planners Web presents information and links dealing with urban sprawl and its consequences.
- Sprawl Kills. L Includes commentary, news, book excerpts, consulting, and a newsletter.
- Sprawl Net. L A forum devoted to the topic of urban sprawl that is primarily intended for professionals, students, and academics, though anyone may use it and anyone may submit works for inclusion.
- Sprawl Watch. J Clearinghouse with news, information and resource links about land-use, community planning and preservation.
- Store-wars. J PBS documentary examining the struggle between the community of Ashland, Virginia and the department store chain.
Urban Unusual: Weblogs/Photography/Misc:
- City Comforts. J Weblog examining urban issues from a mildly libertarian standpoint.
- Civil Pandemonium. J Weblog for and by planning students at RMIT University in Victoria, Australia.
- Cyberhood. L Virtual community centered on urban planning issues, including race, class, and gender. List-serv, gallery, links.
- Deliriousla. J Essays and commentary on the urban condition in Los Angeles.
- LAH*UrbanBureau. L An urban design collaborative devoted to bridging the gap between the traditional development process and the community.
- Patio Culture. J Welcome to the patio! The place where you grew up if you grew up in the suburban America of the 1960's.
- Social Life of Cities. K A collection of photo essays illustrating aspects of public space, collective memory, urban design, and architecture.
- Spaces of Uncertainty. J A multimedia publication, site, and exhibition on the nature of contemporary urban space.
- Urbanity. L Focuses on the differences betweeen urban and suburban development patterns (A lot of pop-ups).
- Urban Photo. J Grassroots website established in 1999 to promote urbanism and explore issues through photography.
- Urbanology. K Urban projects, ideas, and plans. Virtual tour in ghetto spaces, urban planning students network and philosophy for the Urban Planning Department of Columbia.
Who's Who - Theorists/ Planners:
