Booked on Planning

In our latest episode we interview zoning attorney and author Donald Elliott about his book An Even Better Way to Zone: Achieving More Affordable, Equitable, and Sustainable Communities. Elliott’s work comes alongside other recent zoning books covered on the show, including M. Nolan Gray's Arbitrary Lines (arguing for getting rid of zoning) and Sarah Bronin’s Key to the City, his approach aligning with reforming zoning rather than eliminating it. Elliott explains that his earlier book, A Better Way to Zone (released nearly 20 years earlier), focused on broadly applicable zoning “basics” and common misunderstandings, while the new book reflects two additional decades of practice and is more targeted.
Elliott says An Even Better Way to Zone concentrates on four substantive, current priorities that appear across many zoning projects: enabling more affordable housing, supporting more sustainable development, improving zoning outcomes for disadvantaged groups, and—most notably—zoning for continued reuse and redevelopment rather than focusing only on what communities want “today.” He frames zoning as a governance system, not a wish list, emphasizing that it defines legal rights to use property and therefore needs to anticipate ongoing change, especially in built-out places.
Show Notes:
Further Reading: Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
The Image of the City by Kevin A. Lynch
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by 
Arbitrary Lines by M. Nolan Gray
Key to the City by Sara Bronin
The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class and What We Can Do About It by Richard Florida
Cast: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

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RDG Planning & Design
Architects, landscape architects, engineers, artists & planners with a drive to make a difference.

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There’s regionalism as we all learned in planning school led by Louis Mumford at the Regional Planning Association of America (RPAA) and then there’s southern regionalism that Howard W. Odum and his Institute for Research in Social Science (IRSS) led from the University of North Carolina. The history of the southern regionalists was largely overlooked until Stephen Ramos published “Folk Engineering: Planning Southern Regionalism.” Sadly, Stephen passed away shortly after publishing this book, leaving behind an accomplished career and scholarship that elevated the urban planning program in the College of Environmental Design at the University of Georgia. This episode honors his last major publication contributing to the field.
Show Notes:
Further Reading: Electric Life: Utility Regulation and the Fight for Energy Democracy by Nikki Lucke (open access PDF)
Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed by James C. Scott
New State Spaces: Urban Governance and the Rescaling of Statehood by Neil Brenner
White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism by Kevin M. Kruse

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Marvin Planning Consultants
Serving the planning needs of communities and counties in Nebraska and throughout the Midwest.

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Planning for the future can feel overwhelming, yet essential. The American Planning Association’s (APA) 2026 Trend Report offers planners foresight into upcoming trends that could shape our world. In our latest episode, we talked with Petra Hurtado, APA’s Chief Foresight and Knowledge Officer, to delve into these trends. Now in it’s fifth year (coincidentally…or not….this was our 100th episode in the fifth year of our show), we have covered every trend report from the first so you can really start to see the evolution of the document and it’s contents.
This time around, we definitely talk about artificial intelligence (AI) and it’s impacts and how to prepare for it. As trends like AI, transportation, and housing continue to evolve, Hurtado emphasizes the need for planners to address these changes head-on--”looking away won’t make it go away” was the theme of the conversation. The episode highlights recurring themes like climate change, demographic shifts, and policy changes. 
Show Notes:
Check out the full report on APA’s website at https://planning.org/publications/document/9323378/ 
Trend Universe: https://planning.org/foresight/trends/ 
New Home for Data Source’s Article: https://www.planning.org/planning/2025/sep/5-tech-tools-for-building-relevant-and-reliable-urban-data-infrastructure/ 
Upskilling: https://www.planning.org/upskilling/ 
Further Reading: The Ministry of Time by Kiliane Bradley
God is Red: A Native View of Religion by Vine Deloria Jr.
Work Without Jobs: How to Reboot Your Organization’s Work Operating System by Ravin Jesuthansan and John W. Boudreau

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In the latest episode of the Booked On Planning podcast, hosts Stephanie Rouse and Jennifer Hiatt sat down with author and developer Jamie Madden to discuss his new book, Bittersweet Lane: Creating Home(s) in the American Affordable Housing Crisis. Part memoir and part educational guide, the book offers a rare look at the housing crisis from someone who grew up in affordable housing and now spends his career building it.
Madden’s unique background allows him to bridge the gap between resident needs and developer realities. He emphasizes that successful housing requires understanding the “chain of consequences” behind every decision—from laundry room placement to the complex certification processes residents must navigate. A central theme of the interview is the ideological struggle over the purpose of affordable housing. Madden points out that while the goal should be simple—"everyone should have a place to live"—U.S. policy has historically wavered between viewing housing as a reward (like parks) or a punitive measure (like prisons). 
Show Notes:
Further Reading: Gaffs: Why No One Can Get a House, and What We Can Do About It by Rory Hearne
Poor: Grit, courage, and the life-changing value of self-belief by Katriona O’Sullivan
Topographia Hibernica: Acclaimed stories from the bestselling Irish author, podcaster, satirist and musician by Blindboy Boatclub

A past episode referenced by Jamie is Homeless is a Housing Issue, a book he references in Bittersweet Lane.
Check out the APA National Planning Conference page and register to attend today at https://planning.org/conference/?utm_campaign=NPC26&utm_source=external&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=bookedonplanning 
To help support the show, pick up a copy of the book through our Bookshop page at https://bookshop.org/shop/bookedonplanning or get a copy through your local bookstore!
To view the show transcripts, click on the episode at https://bookedonplanning.buzzsprout.com/

 
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Progressivism struggles with a never ending pendulum swing between Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian impulses, bringing us to our current problem of inaction. Author Mark Dunkelman in his book, "Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back", explains the origins of American progressivism as a response to the upheaval created by railroads and national-scale economic power, outlining these two competing impulses within the movement: the Jeffersonian push to break up big institutions and return power to smaller, local actors, and a Hamiltonian push to build strong public institutions capable of regulating large private entities. 
The discussion traces how the U.S. shifted toward large-scale governance in the New Deal and mid-20th century, then swung back in the 1960s–1970s as public trust eroded due to environmental damage, highways cutting through communities, urban renewal, Vietnam, and Watergate, leading to layered legal and procedural checks that can fragment decision-making and make it difficult for governments to act quickly. Dunkelman describes how the judiciary’s role changed over time and argues that today’s system resembles a “tragedy of the commons in reverse,” where widespread veto points prevent collective action. 
Show Notes:
Further Reading: Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 by Lizabeth Cohen
Saving America's Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America by Lizabeth Cohen
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner
Find each on our Policy book list at https://bookshop.org/lists/theory-policy-history

To help support the show, pick up a copy of the book through our Bookshop page at https://bookshop.org/shop/bookedonplanning or get a copy through your local bookstore!
To view the show transcripts, click on the episode at https://bookedonplanning.buzzsprout.com/
 
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