Misc. Planning Tools

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illustration by Paul Hoffman

A variety of other tools than can help planners & planning commissioners in their work.

Bright Ideas

What Are MOOCs and Why Should They Matter to Planners and Commissioners?

by Stuart Andreason

How would you like to take a course at a top-notch university, with some outstanding planning professors, for free? Now, you can do just that through a “MOOC.” Stuart Andreason explains.

PCJ Articles

Bringing Commercial Uses Closer to Existing Residential Neighborhoods, Part I

by Wendy Grey, AICP

Residents in established neighborhoods will often be very concerned about zoning proposals to allow new commercial uses close to their neighborhood. The question planners and planning commissioners must be able to answer is how the creation of a commercial district near a neighborhood will be a positive change.

PCJ Articles

How Planners Plan for Historic Preservation

by Amy Facca

Preservation planner Amy Facca provides an overview of the different kinds of plans used to strengthen local historic preservation efforts.

PCJ Articles

Putting the LID on Your Community’s Stormwater – Part IV

by Jim Segedy, FAICP, and Lisa Hollingsworth-Segedy, AICP

In the fourth installment of their series on low impact development, the Segedys provide an overview of ways communities can start to implement a LID program.

PCJ Articles

What’s Your Community’s “John Hancock”?

by Amy Facca

Community planners and economic development professionals are increasingly identifying communities’ signature elements, including location specific historic and related sites, as well as businesses and institutions that are part of the “creative economy.”

PCJ Articles

How to Revitalize Blighted Areas Without Increasing Taxes

by Christopher Leo, PhD

A brief overview of tax increment financing: how it works, and some of the pros and cons in using it.

Editor's Notes & Interviews

A Vermont perspective on billboard control

PCJ Editor Wayne Senville offers a Vermont perspective in response to Ed McMahon’s article on billboard control.

Editor's Notes & Interviews

Talking with Mary Tracy of Scenic America about Ed McMahon’s PCJ article: “Billboards – The Case for Control”

Rounding out our follow-up to Ed McMahon’s article on billboard control.

Insights

Response from Outdoor Advertising Association of America to PCJ article: “Billboards – The Case for Control”

View reply from the OAAA.

Editor's Notes & Interviews

Talking with Ed McMahon about “Billboards: The Case for Control”

A conversation with Ed McMahon about his just-published PCJ article on billboard control.

PCJ Articles

Integrating Physical, Economic, & Fiscal Considerations in Community Planning

by Brian Murphy and Brett Sheckler

Too often local fiscal and economic development policies fail to mesh with comprehensive plan goals. What can planners do?

Bright Ideas

Turning Downtowns Around: Business Improvement Districts

by Beth Humstone

Planner and PCJ contributing writer Beth Humstone looks at how business improvement districts work and what they’re doing to address today’s downtown challenges.

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