Downtown Ocean Beach seems like a coddled momma's boy afraid to grow up. The small San Diego community just south of Mission Bay is a curious little enclave where the outdated downtown clashes with the cost of housing. The residents seem in denial about the hustle-bustle of capit

FRIDAY DECEMBER 7, 2007 UCLA EXTENSION BUILDING, G-33E LOS ANGELES (WESTWOOD VILLAGE), CALIFORNIA Smart growth, sustainability, housing, infrastructure, flooding, global warming and planning for safe communities: each of these topics reflects yet another step in the evolution of

Southern California is in flames again – it's gotten to the point where I can't even remember which fire the soot on my car is coming from – and makes me wonder once again why we've given up on land use planning as a way to reduce fire risk in such a fire-prone region. As I write

Hollywood has finally made it official: Los Angeles is undeniably an urban place – one that's beginning to look and feel more and more like Manhattan. It's one thing when we urban planners say it and point to loft conversions in Downtown L.A. But when NBC-Universal confirms it, y

California is an urban state, but it also has about a million small cities. All right, maybe not a million. Actually, there are 377 incorporated cities in California with fewer than 75,000 people.

Get ready for the Great Eminent Domain War of 2008. Jim Madaffer, the San Diego city councilmember who's the incoming president of the League of California Cities, traveled all the way to Ventura Friday – by train – to encourage local elected officials from the Central Coast to h

The housing market slowdown appears to be running straight into the state's new flood control laws. It makes one wonder which way Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is close to homebuilders, will turn when the collision occurs.

There were lots of highlights, and some lowlights, at my first state planning conference. Here I list the best and the worst of my experience at the California Chapter, American Planning Association conference last week in San Jose. I'll let you decide which is a highlight and wh

The reactions to our latest downtowns list has been interesting — and telling, because they betray a fundamental misunderstanding of "placemaking."

Norman Mineta, possibly the most important transportation policymaker of the last 20 years, closed the 2007 CCAPA Conference on Wednesday with a speech that was less than inspiring. Not that Mineta wasn't entertaining. He told a number of humorous and self-depreciating stories fr

The tension between planners and engineers is well-known. Planners have little patience with their counterparts down the hall, and vice-versa. Both sides think the other side doesn't "get it."

You can't turn around at this year's CCAPA conference in San Jose without hearing the terms LEED, sustainability, carbon footprint, greehouse gas emissions and zero waste. Forget about floor-area ratios, design review standards and conditional use permits. These people think land