Recent Posts
By Mayor William A. Johnson, Jr. Why did Rochester take the path less traveled when we decided to create a partnership with citizens to chart our future? Lewis Mumford put it as well as anyone when he said that “the best economy of cities is the care and culture of human beings.” Rochester – like […]
by Norman Krumholz I want to report on my impressions of planning after years of close association with the American Planning Association (APA) and American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), and much conversation with planning practitioners around the U.S. I have come to believe there is a new culture evolving in planning. The New Planning Culture […]
Selected Feature Community-based Planning: Moving Beyond the Rhetoric By Jocelyne Chait Getting Transportation Priorities Straight By Lisa Schreibman Privatizing Public Space: Saving NYC’s Parks By Dave Lutz
By Dave Lutz In New York City little planning is done to meet the needs for public space. City government has no idea of what the public needs are, or what it would cost to meet them. There are no studies of how our increasing reliance on the private sector to finance our public space […]
By Lisa Schreibman As New York City grew in the 1990’s so did the demand for transportation. Population grew by 9%, jobs by 10% and personal wealth by 5%. The average number of weekday bus riders grew by 47% between 1996 and 2001 and truck trips over the Hudson River increased 18% in the past […]
By Jocelyne Chait The growth in community-based planning across the United States over the past decade reflects increasing recognition of the value of citizen participation in rebuilding neighborhoods and promoting sustainable community development. New York City, one of the largest and most diverse cities in the country, has a highly centralized planning bureaucracy that does […]
Selected Feature Queers and Planning By George Cheung and Ann Forsyth Transgendered as Mine Shaft Canaries By Petra L. Doan Deviant History, Defiant Heritage By Gail Dubrow Zoning that Excludes Queers By Gwen Urey
By Gwen Urey In Pomona, California, where I am a planning commissioner, a simple phrase in one sentence of a complex ordinance would have had a discriminatory effect had I not caught it. It could have excluded some low-income queer couples from housing funded in part by public moneys (tax incentives for affordable housing for […]
By Petra L. Doan In coal mining country it is common knowledge that canaries are highly sensitive to noxious methane gas sometimes found in mines. Miners used to carry a caged canary into the mine as an early warning device; when the canary keeled over, it was time to get out fast. In some ways […]
By George Cheung and Ann Forsyth Planners Network has had a commitment to queer issues for some time, but what this means has not been much discussed in the organization. This newsletter issue grew out of our experience, and the experience of several of the contributors, that while progressive planners (almost) uniformly agree that queer […]
About Progressive City
Progressive City: Radical Alternatives is an online publication dedicated to ideas and practices that advance racial, economic, and social justice in cities. We feature stories on inclusive urban planning practices, grassroots organizing, and civic action. Our contributors and readers are activists, reporters, practitioners, academics, and community members. Learn more about Progressive City and learn how to submit articles..
Follow us on social media:


Recent Comments