Planning on The Edge: Conversations with North American Planning Directors
A conversation with the Planning Directors of six of North America's most innovative cities, including San Francisco, San Diego, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, and New York.
1:24 PM PST on November 2, 2009
A conversation with the Planning Directors of six of North America’s most innovative cities, including San Francisco, San Diego, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, and New York.
Before he began blogging about land use and transportation, Aaron Donovan wrote The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund's annual fundraising appeal for three years and earned a master's degree in urban planning from Columbia. Since then, he has worked for nonprofit organizations devoted to New York City economic development. He lives and works in the Financial District, and sees New York's pre-automobile built form as an asset that makes New York unique in the United States, and as a strategic advantage that should be capitalized upon.
Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.
More from Streetsblog San Francisco
Muni Funding Measure Also Qualifies for November Ballot
Mayor and advocates turn in 18,469 signatures, almost twice what was needed
May 28, 2026
Here’s How to Vote Before Election Day in California
Changes in federal post office regulations mean that it may already be too late to send in your ballot, depending where you live. But there's still a lot of ways to make sure your vote counts, including voting on election day like our grandparents used to last century.
May 28, 2026
Talking Headways Podcast: Community Severance by Road
Jaime Benevides and Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou on how community severance by road infrastructure increases mental health hospital visits in New York City.
May 28, 2026