Planetizen
Encyclopedia
Planetizen is a planning-related news website
owned by Urban Insight of Los Angeles, California. It features user-submitted and editor-evaluated news and weekly user-contributed op-eds about urban planning
and several related fields. The website also publishes an annual list of the top 10 books in the field published during the current year, and a directory and ranking of graduate-level education in the field of urban planning.
The name of the website is a concatenation of Plan, as in the word, planning, and Netizen
, a portmanteau of Internet
and citizen. The website self-reports that it is visited by 1.5 million unique visitors each year.
In 2006, the website also started publishing books, including the first urban planning book for children, Where Things Are, From Near to Far, published in 2008 by Planetizen Press. This book was reviewed by The New York Times
. Their 2007 book "Planetizen's Contemporary Debates in Urban Planning", http://www.islandpress.com/bookstore/details.php?prod_id=1202 a collection of brief essays published by Island Press, received positive reviews.
, or slums by any other name. Here the debate is more difficult to access, because for a long time, the problems and solutions found in informal settlements have been either ignored or misinterpreted by mainstream planners. Solutions to this exponentially growing problem are not obvious. Planetizen has commendably brought attention to this other side of urbanism, so ofter ignored by the urban planning schools. For example, it sponsored a discussion on the Bombay slum Dharavi
, which brought the topic of slum clearance versus upgrading to world-wide attention.
practices. Planetizen is also criticized by some urban planning educators in higher education for ranking graduate-level urban planning programs in the Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Education.
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
owned by Urban Insight of Los Angeles, California. It features user-submitted and editor-evaluated news and weekly user-contributed op-eds about urban planning
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
and several related fields. The website also publishes an annual list of the top 10 books in the field published during the current year, and a directory and ranking of graduate-level education in the field of urban planning.
The name of the website is a concatenation of Plan, as in the word, planning, and Netizen
Netizen
The term Netizen is a portmanteau of the English words internet and citizen. It is defined as an entity or person actively involved in online communities and a user of the internet, especially an avid one. The term can also imply an interest in improving the internet, especially in regard to open...
, a portmanteau of Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and citizen. The website self-reports that it is visited by 1.5 million unique visitors each year.
In 2006, the website also started publishing books, including the first urban planning book for children, Where Things Are, From Near to Far, published in 2008 by Planetizen Press. This book was reviewed by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. Their 2007 book "Planetizen's Contemporary Debates in Urban Planning", http://www.islandpress.com/bookstore/details.php?prod_id=1202 a collection of brief essays published by Island Press, received positive reviews.
Contributions
Planetizen introduced a much-needed broader perspective on city planning in the US, which very often extends into international practice as well. Coming out of the very formal car-oriented planning philosophy and practice following the Second World War, American urbanism risked becoming a dinosaur as it missed all the exciting New Urbanist practices being implemented. The great value of Planetizen was to juxtapose ALL planning practice and let readers judge the effectiveness of each idea. Coming as it did in the internet age, it provided, and continues to provide, an extremely useful central location for urbanists and planners to follow what is happening around the world. More than any other site, Planetizen is a clearing house of planning ideas, and its inclusivity without any ideological prejudice is both refreshing and invaluable.Suburban Sprawl
The major problem in developed economies is surely sprawl and its energy-devouring urban morphology. Planetizen has broadly championed the New Urbanist solutions while juxtaposing a variety of alternatives and criticisms. This interplay lays the groundwork for facing a difficult problem. Debate on Planetizen juxtaposes practical concerns of developers and government entities with the need for more sustainable urban fabric. Developers who build Sprawl are being educated towards new strategies for a more livable suburbia.Informal Settlements
In the Developing World, the major problem facing both economies and governments lies in owner-built settlements, favelas, villas miserias, gecekonduGecekondu
Gecekondu is a Turkish word meaning a house put up quickly without proper permissions, a squatter's house, and by extension, a shanty or shack...
, or slums by any other name. Here the debate is more difficult to access, because for a long time, the problems and solutions found in informal settlements have been either ignored or misinterpreted by mainstream planners. Solutions to this exponentially growing problem are not obvious. Planetizen has commendably brought attention to this other side of urbanism, so ofter ignored by the urban planning schools. For example, it sponsored a discussion on the Bombay slum Dharavi
Dharavi
Dharavi is a slum and administrative ward, over parts of Sion, Bandra, Kurla and Kalina suburbs of Mumbai, India. It is sandwiched between Mahim in the west and Sion in the east, and spread over an area of 175 hectares, or...
, which brought the topic of slum clearance versus upgrading to world-wide attention.
Skyscrapers/Tall Buildings
World economies and major construction companies are driven in part by building megaprojects, the most prominent component of which is one or more skyscrapers. Planetizen has opened up the debate on skyscrapers more than once. A city has to balance the drive to build high, using high-tech, with the theoretical objections that skyscrapers drain the resources and energy from the region in which they are implanted. New skyscrapers are claimed to be ecosustainable, but those claims have as many critics as they have proponents. Again, there is a need for a broad debate, and Planetizen contains many different and dissenting viewpoints on the question of skyscrapers as a viable building typology.Criticism
Planetizen is often criticized for running news stories or user-contributed op-eds that are critical of current urban planningUrban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
practices. Planetizen is also criticized by some urban planning educators in higher education for ranking graduate-level urban planning programs in the Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Education.
Timeline
- February 2000 - Planetizen is created.
- August 2000 - First contributed op-ed, by Anthony DownsAnthony DownsAnthony Downs is a scholar in public policy and public administration, and since 1977 is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C..-Education:...
- February 2001 - Site recognized with an award for use of technology by the American Planning AssociationAmerican Planning AssociationThe American Planning Association is a professional organization representing the field of city and regional planning in the United States. The APA was formed in 1978 when two separate professional planning organizations, the American Institute of Planners and the American Society of Planning...
. - September 2001 - James Howard KunstlerJames Howard KunstlerJames Howard Kunstler is an American author, social critic, public speaker, and blogger. He is best known for his books The Geography of Nowhere , a history of American suburbia and urban development, and the more recent The Long Emergency , where he argues that declining oil production is likely...
and Nikos A. Salingaros call for the end of skyscrapers in response to September 11 attacks, in an article on Planetizen, The End of Tall Buildings - November 2002 - First annual review of top 10 books in the field of urban planningUrban planningUrban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
- February 2005 - Planetizen moves to the DrupalDrupalDrupal is a free and open-source content management system and content management framework written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. It is used as a back-end system for at least 1.5% of all websites worldwide ranging from personal blogs to corporate, political, and...
web publishing platform and documents the migration in an article for Linux JournalLinux JournalLinux Journal is a monthly technology magazine published by Belltown Media, Inc. of Houston, Texas. The magazine focuses specifically on Linux, allowing the content to be a highly specialized source of information for open source enthusiasts.-History:...
. - March 2006 - Planetizen associate editor Nate Berg begins weekly podcastPodcastA podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
about weekly urban planningUrban planningUrban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
issues. - June 2006 - Planetizen Press publishes first ranking of graduate-level urban planningUrban planningUrban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
programs. - May 2008 - Planetizen Press publishes second ranking of graduate-level urban planningUrban planningUrban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
programs. - October 2009 - Planetizen publishes a list of the top 100 urban thinkers, as voted on by visitors to the website.
- April 2011 - Planetizen publishes a list of the top 25 thinkers in urban planning and technology
- May 2011 - Planetizen publishes 2012 ranking of graduate-level urban planning programs.
Editors
The site was created in February 2000 by co-editors in chief Abhijeet Chavan and Chris Steins. In 2005 David Gest was appointed the first managing editor. Subsequent managing editors have included Christian Peralta Madera (2006) and Timothy Halbur (2008).Planetizen Press
Planetizen Press is the publishing arm of Planetizen, and has published several print books.- Planetizen 2012 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs. Published by Planetizen Press (May, 2011).
- Insider's Guide to Careers in Urban Planning. Published by Planetizen Press (November, 2009).
- Where Things Are, from Near to Far: A Children's book about urban planning. Published by Planetizen Press (December, 2008).
- Planetizen 2009 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs. Published by Planetizen Press (May, 2008).
- Planetizen 2007 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs. Published by Planetizen Press (June, 2006).