Citizen Hall: Reclaiming City Hall for the People

by Ryan Hayes How can we, as residents of Toronto, transform Toronto City Hall—the city bureaucracy’s democratic core—into a youth-friendly space, one that comes to terms with historical practices of exclusion embedded in the site itself? On 24 March 2008,…

Categories: Fall 2008

Indigeneity: A Cornerstone of Diversity Planning in Canadian Cities

by Ryan Walker Understanding and realizing the urban aspirations of Canada’s Aboriginal (Indigenous) peoples (i.e., First Nations, Métis and Inuit) is a fundamental part of planning for diversity. Aboriginal peoples constitute a significant proportion of the population in a number…

Categories: Fall 2008

Citizenship, Democracy and Public Space

By Clara Irazábal Public spaces are privileged sites for the enactment and contestation of various stances on democracy and citizenship in the public sphere. Indeed, the public sphere, as the intangible realm for the expression, reproduction and recreation of a society’s…

Categories: Summer 2008

Bounded Tourism: Plaza Mexico in California

By Clara Irazábal and Macarena Gómez-Barris This article is excerpted with permission from Clara Irazábal and Macarena Gómez-Barris. “Bounded Tourism: Immigrant Politics, Consumption, and Traditions at Plaza Mexico.” Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 5 (3), 2007: 186-213. Conceived and owned by Korean…

Categories: Spring 2008

Gender and Urban Planning: Time for Another Look

By Regula Modlich Almost fifty years ago, Jane Jacobs shook the planning establishment with her bookThe Death and Life of Great American Cities. While neither explicitly feminist nor oriented to women, Jacobs’ perspectives were rooted in the life experiences, sensitivities…

Categories: Spring 2008

A Housing Tour in South Africa

By Beth Maclin At the entrance to the squatter camp sits a bright green chemical toilet, accented with a gray top and door. A narrow lane winds past it to a collapsing building where three young men lean against two…

Categories: Winter 2008

Venezuela’s Communal Councils and the Role of Planners

By Clara Irazábal and John Foley The December 2007 referendum proposing constitutional reforms in Venezuela, discussed in the Fall 2007 issue of Progressive Planning Magazine, was defeated by less than 2 percent of the vote. Some of these reforms would have…

Categories: Winter 2008

Progressive Planning Profile: Jacqueline Leavitt

Note: With this profile of Jacqueline Leavitt, Progressive Planning Magazine starts what will be an ongoing series examining the work of progressive planners. Jacqueline Leavitt, a long-term Planners Network member, is professor of urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles…

Categories: Winter 2008