Urban Planning For Active Living: Who Benefits? By Kristen Day Seventh Generation: The Environment’s Role in Physical Activity: Necessary but not Sufficient By Ann Forsyth The Key to Good Health is Not in the Ignition By Lavinia Gordon America’s Obesity…
Kevin J. Krizek, Assistant Professor There is considerable enthusiasm among individuals in research, advocacy and policy circles for the idea that “good” urban design will positively contribute to levels of physical activity. The enthusiasm demonstrated by such perspectives is refreshing;…
By Anne Lusk More people walk and bicycle in cities worldwide where destinations such as grocery stores, post offices or coffee shops are accessible by sidewalks, roads for bicycling and separated multi-use paths. Examples abound in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium…
From Citizen Planner: Planning and Physical Activity special issue. By Mark Fenton In recent months Americans have heard from the Surgeon General, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and no less than the President himself that this nation is…
By Lavinia Gordon For years Portland has received kudos for its innovative and successful transportation and land use policies. Portland boasts of a vital downtown, a nationally recognized urban growth boundary, an award-winning light rail and transit system and as…
By Ann Forsyth Theme Editor Anne Lusk Americans are getting fatter and exercising less. As Thomas Halton outlines in this issue, this has human costs; overweight and lack of exercise contribute to a variety of chronic diseases. Given the multi-billion…
By Kristin Day The US population is heavier than ever, with obesity and overweight reaching alarming levels. Inadequate physical activity explains at least part of this trend. As Thomas Halton explains elsewhere (see “Obesity Epidemic” in this issue), 22 percent…
On the Practical Relevance of Marxist Thought By Renee Toback Seventh Generation By Tom Angotti Participatory Planning in Cuba By Marie Kennedy, Lorna Rivera and Chris Tilly Sound Theory and Political Savvy By Morris Zeitlin Socialists and Cities By Joan…
By Marie Kennedy, Lorna Rivera and Chris Tilly Last January we sat with about thirty Cubans in a community arts center in Boyeros, on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba. The group included artists, teachers, social workers, government officials, architects, engineers…
By Tom Angotti Some thirty years ago when Planners Network started, many progressive planners proposed or discussed socialist alternatives to capitalist urban development and planning. Central planning in the Soviet Union, China and the emerging socialist nations of Africa and…
By Renee Toback Progressives and socialists get very different press today than we did thirty years ago. What is unchanged from thirty years ago, however, is the status of “socialism” in the United States and the usefulness of Marxist analysis.…
War and the Urban ‘Geopolitical Footprint’ By Michael Dudley Seventh Generation By Tom Angotti Over 160 US Cities for Peace By Eugene Patron Dividing and Rebuilding Beirut By Katja Simons Vieques: El Impacto del Bombardeo en las Poblaciones Civiles Plan…
By Katja Simons Will the US-led invasion of Iraq make Baghdad into another Beirut? How will the battle to reconstruct Iraq develop? Despite obvious differences, a look at the history of the Lebanese war, where external forces played no small…
By Eugene J. Patron More than 160 city and county councils in the US have passed resolutions opposing a preemptive or unilateral war in Iraq. This groundswell of local civic expression runs directly counter to claims by the Bush administration…
By Michael Dudley Mushroom clouds blossoming over dense cityscapes. Thousands of gun emplacements throughout Baghdad promising fierce resistance. Civilians killed by the hundreds in open marketplaces, in cars, in their homes. Brutal building-by-building urban warfare, with heritage sites thousands of…
Post 9/11 Section: The Ground Zero Architectural Competition By Peter Marcuse Seventh Generation By PN Editors Imagine New York By Penelope Duda and Eva Hanhardt Post-9/11 Planning By Tom Angotti From Pruitt-Igoe to the World Trade Center By Clara Irazabal…
December 13, 2002 WASHINGTON, DC In an unusual move, the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) today condemned the remarks made by Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi on December 5 suggesting that the United States “wouldn’t have had…
By Adrian Blackwell and Kanishka Goonewardena, for Planning Action On September 24, 2002 the Toronto media reported two events under two separate headlines. The smaller headline was about the unveiling of the new official plan of the city of Toronto.…
By Jeff Halper In Israel’s thirty-six-year occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, planning has been perfected as a tool of political control. Nowhere in the world is planning used with such sophistication to such a single-minded purpose.…
By Chip Haynes Hey, big news: the federal government has stopped trying to get the American auto industry to build fuel-efficient gas cars and instead has hung its hat onto hydrogen fuel cells (HFCs). Yeah, well, it’s not like that…
By Penelope Duda and Eva Hanhardt The tragic events of September 11, 2001 profoundly affected us all. Within days property owners, politicians, the press and some planning and architecture professionals began to propose how the city and region should quickly…
By the Editors Tom Angotti, Eve Baron, Ann Forsyth, Kara Heffernan, Norma Rantisi This time last year, we produced the first issue of Planners Network Magazine. Instead of uncorking champagne or baking a birthday cake, we’d like you to join…
By Peter Marcuse Nine proposals by teams of internationally-renowned architects were unveiled by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) in December, 2002. They made the front pages of every New York newspaper, and have been subject to extensive comment…