Planetizen Courses offers historical perspective through courses designed to help planners understand the history of the profession and how essential concepts and ideas in the field were developed and popularized. Learn about the triumphs and failures of past planners and how past decisions continue to shape urban form today.

History Courses

Panel of five speakers on webcams
Housing and Racial Justice: Current Events Urban Resilience
59 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • SACPLAN CPD
aerial view of los angeles at night
The American City, Part 2: The Invention of a New Scale
Mark David Major
50 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
Sprawling residential neighborhoods with many single family houses.
Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix it
Nolan Gray
67 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
City Dreamers film ad
City Dreamers
81 Mins
aerial of Houston with houses and buildings
Planning for Racial Equity
Lance Freeman
55 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
aerial image of portland oregon
The American City, Part 3: Learning from the Grid
Mark David Major
53 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
Findlay market on a colorful street in Ohio.
Landscape Design for Social Sustainability, Part 1
Kristin Faurest
57 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
cleveland ohio skyline with industrial buildings
Classical Location Theory
Kevin Credit
169 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
redlining map
Race, Space, and Planning
Álvaro Huerta
66 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
aerial view of new york city
The American City, Part 4: Complexity and Pattern in the City
Mark David Major
53 Mins
  • AIA CES
The I-5 in Portland, Oregon.
Roadways for People, Part 1
Lynn Peterson, Elizabeth Doerr
79 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
people on steps of city center
Lewis Mumford on the City 1: The City - Heaven and Hell
29 Mins
  • AICP CM
vintage photo of a boat with migrants near ellis island
A Brief History of Immigration and Planning
Álvaro Huerta
65 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
abandoned houses during great recession
Understanding the Great Recession
Peter Gordon
74 Mins
sculpture in an urban plaza
Design for Peace and Democracy
Kristin Faurest
50 Mins
  • CIP
  • AICP CM
traffic of cars on city street
Lewis Mumford on the City 2: The City - Cars or People?
29 Mins
  • AICP CM
large group of people doing yoga outdoors in a city center
Women and Cities: Gender Equity, Past and Present
Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman
54 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • SACPLAN CPD
Pompeii ruins with Mount Vesuvius in the background
History of City Planning 1: Ancient Times to the Modern Age (7,500 BC to 1900)
Jason Luger
53 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • SACPLAN CPD
Image of International Symbol of Access next to weighing scales
US Disability Access Laws for Planners
Jonathan Katz-Ouziel, Thomas Hamed
109 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
European city with train and buildings in black and white
Lewis Mumford on the City 3: The City and Its Region
30 Mins
  • AICP CM
women and children sitting at praxagora kok project in Stockholm
Women and Cities 3: Gender Equity in Private Life
Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman
54 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
buildings, cars, people on Halsted Street in Chicago in 1900
History of City Planning 2: Modern Ideas of City Planning (1900-1939)
Jason Luger
49 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • SACPLAN CPD
still from the movie of two people walking on sidewalk with trees and buildings in the background
Lewis Mumford on the City 4: The Heart of the City
29 Mins
  • AICP CM
kansas city missori buildings
Introduction to Culture and Placemaking
Annalise Fonza
63 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM

Top History Instructors

Jason Luger

Jason Luger is a lecturer in City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley, College of Environmental...

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Mark David Major

Dr. Mark David Major, AICP, CNU-A is a Professor of Urban Design at the Savannah College...

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Kristin Faurest

Kristin Faurest is a public garden education and outreach professional, author, and landscape architecture educator, committed...

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Annalise Fonza

Dr. Annalise Fonza is a Lecturer in the Department of Urban & Regional Planning at the...

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Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman

Katrina is a lecturer, researcher, and advocate for heart-centered cities. Her work focuses on human behavior...

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Álvaro Huerta

Dr. Álvaro Huerta is a Religion and Public Life Organizing Fellow at Harvard Divinity School and...

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Peter Gordon

Peter Gordon is Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern California Price School of Public Policy...

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Thomas Hamed

Thomas Hamed, AICP is a transportation planner who specializes in commuter transportation and mobility for all...

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Jonathan Katz-Ouziel

Jonathan Katz-Ouziel is an autistic planner, an independent accessibility consultant, and the founder of Opossum House...

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Elizabeth Doerr

Elizabeth Doerr is a writer with expertise and awareness around social and racial justice issues and...

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Lynn Peterson

Lynn Peterson is a nationally recognized transportation and land use integration expert.

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Nolan Gray

M. Nolan Fray is the Research Director for California YIMBY, an expert in urban land-use regulation...

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Qian He

Dr. Qian He is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Maryland, College Park and...

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Kayla Hunter

Kayla is an experienced non-profit professional who works with at-risk youth to reimagine unused, neglected spaces...

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Lance Freeman

Lance Freeman is a Professor in the Urban Planning Program at Columbia University in New York...

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Dave Amos

Dave is an Assistant Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cal Poly...

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Meredith Johnson

Meredith is the owner of Johnson Planning and Preservation LLC, a boutique firm that works to...

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Kevin Credit

Kevin is the Assistant Director for Urban Informatics at the Center for Spatial Data Science at...

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All History Courses

The American City, Part 2: The Invention of a New Scale Sign Up

The American City, Part 2: The Invention of a New Scale

Instructor: Mark David Major

Understand how the physical characteristics of block size and street length distinguish American cities from earlier models of urbanism, and the implications of these physical characteristics for sustainability in the 21st century.

4.30
50 Mins
AIA CES
AICP CM
The American City, Part 1: A Brief History of the Regular Grid Sign Up

The American City, Part 1: A Brief History of the Regular Grid

Instructor: Mark David Major

Learn why the regular grid has been a standard part of the town planning vocabulary around the world for nearly five millennia.

4.13
47 Mins
AIA CES
AICP CM
Economic Thinking for Planners: Cities, Externalities, and Governance Sign Up

Economic Thinking for Planners: Cities, Externalities, and Governance

Instructor: Peter Gordon

Through history, people have become better off as they urbanized. This course investigates how and why the quality of life has improved in cities.

4.17
56 Mins
AICP CM
SACPLAN CPD

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