Josh Stephens
planetizen
Los Angeles, CA, United States
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Past articles by Josh:
Microtransit Gains Momentum With Public Transportation Agencies
On-demand van services are competing with ride-hailing and filling some crucial gaps in public transit networks. → Read More
"Imagineering" Versus Planning
The conference of the California chapter of the American Planning Association took place across the street from Disneyland this week. What Disney does for fictional landscapes, planners must do for real landscapes. → Read More
Rise Of Electric Vehicles Makes Good Planning More Crucial Than Ever
There may be plenty of reasons to hail the rise of electric vehicles, including California's policy to ban the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035. But what may be good for the air is not necessarily good for cities. → Read More
Stopping Climate Change Requires Doing, Not Studying
A $1.1 billion donation to Stanford seeks to mitigate climate change. As impressive as that gesture is, the real solutions to climate change lie in hearts and minds around the world—and not in Palo Alto, California. → Read More
The Waning Influence Of NIMBYism
After two generations, for reasons large and small, opponents of growth and housing in California are steadily losing power. That's good news for planners and planning. → Read More
Why California Should Not, Cannot Solve Its Housing Crisis By Building New Cities
Nathan J. Robinson, editor of Current Affairs magazine, recently published what appeared to be a draft of an essay in his own publication that discussed building brand-new, government-developed cities in the California's hinterlands. Some of his arguments don't make sense, though. It seems whoever was supposed to edit Robinson's piece hit "publish" prematurely. I know California pretty well, so… → Read More
We Now Can Build Really Tall Skyscrapers. But Why?
The new book Super Tall, by architect and writer Stefan Al, explains how the new generation of skyscrapers are built and how they fit into their respective urban fabrics. → Read More
Why The Metaverse Will Be Bad For Cities
The renaming of Los Angeles's Staples Center to Crypto.com Arena may seem like an innocuous promotional gambit. But it means that cities are now in competition with a seductive virtual world. → Read More
On Housing, Cities' Traditional Political Labels No Longer Apply
Historically liberal cities belie their supposed concern for human welfare by rejecting new development. Meanwhile, more conservative cities have seized the moment to become more progressive, innovative, and inclusive. → Read More
The YIMBY-NIMBY Debate Gets 'Uninteresting'
I don't like to give too much credence to random outbursts from the Twitterverse, but a recent thread has stuck with me. Among all the debates over and epithets that have been hurled around California's housing crisis, perhaps the most outlandish claim yet is that it is dull. This is the analysis not of a dour teenager or jaded NUMTOT but rather of Kian Goh, a professor of architecture and urban… → Read More
The Top Urban Planning Books of 2021
Planetizen's annual list of the top urban planning books of the year is here—maintaining a tradition that dates back to 2002. → Read More
Will SB 9 and SB 10 Make Any Difference?
In dramatic fashion, the movement to undo single-unit zoning is going statewide in California with the passage of SB 9 in California. It's an emotional, moral victory for housing advocates—and a ton of work for the state's planners. → Read More
An Oasis In The Desert
A redesign costing a mere $12 million transformed the main street of the desert city of Lancaster, Calif., from an ordinary retail strip to a genuine place. If Lancaster can do it, any city can. → Read More
The (Nearly) Glacial Timescale of Planning
Planners are used to taking a few years to develop plans, and maybe a few more for development to take hold. For some of California's biggest projects, it's more about decades than years. → Read More
Misunderstanding Metros
The vernacular notion of "metro area" or "urban region" may not match up with standard political designations, like municipality, county, state, or city-state. Too bad. Ambiguity and complexity are hallmarks of today's mega-cities. → Read More
Los Angeles' Merchant of Sprawl
Los Angeles is mourning the death of billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad. For all of Broad's many civic contributions, he made his fortune in a decidedly anti-urban way. → Read More
Housing Crisis Creates Perverse Opportunity For Wall Street
Opponents of Blackstone and other finance firms that have been buying up housing are quick to blame them for the housing crisis. But it's the other way around: the failure to plan for and develop enough housing has attracted the firms. → Read More
A (Brief) Lesson in Planning For Psychologists
How can planners approach the emotions and psychology of urban stakeholders? Planning journalist Josh Stephens speaks with Psychology Today to give psychology professionals a glimpse into how planners think. → Read More
The Miseducation of Cities
A review of the provocative new book by Davarian L. Baldwin, In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower. → Read More
New Book, 'Land,' Searches for Solid Ground
Simon Winchester's new book, Land, brings global scope to the concepts of land use. → Read More