Author Archives: Tom Sanchez

The Dos and Don’ts of Using AI in Community Engagement for Urban Planners

AI can help planners make sense of lots of community input and hear from those who don’t usually show up. But it shouldn’t replace real conversations. Be upfront about how stakeholders’ input is used and ensure the process remains fair. In short, AI can be super helpful, but only if planners use it thoughtfully. Continue reading

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When “Neutrality” Becomes Blindness: The Perils of Censoring Race, Class, and Gender Data in Urban Planning

Political pushback against DEI is igniting right at the moment that AI is rising in urban planning. If we don’t fight it, the results could be catastrophic. See my Planetizen column here.

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Will Urban Planners Lose Their Jobs to AI?

AI can already draft policy briefs, summarize reports, and even sketch out scenarios, work that once performed by interns and junior planners. Continue reading

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Summer 2025 Urban Planning Citation Update

The updated citation data have just been posted at ScholarMetrics. Thanks to those of you who provided corrections, updates, and other faculty information. As mentioned before, there is no (easy) way to provide real-time updates due to Google Scholar limitations. I … Continue reading

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Artificial Intelligence for Urban Planning

New book due out in October. See: https://www.routledge.com/Artificial-Intelligence-for-Urban-Planning/Sanchez/p/book/9781032760469

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CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS

CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS
Proposal Submission Deadline: July 31, 2025, The Handbook of AI and Urban Planning, edited by Thomas W. Sanchez (Texas A&M) Continue reading

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A Year in Review(s)

Academia runs on a steady stream of reviews— journal articles, promotion and tenure packages, book proposals, research proposals—the list goes on. Continue reading

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Winter 2025 Urban Planning Citation Update

The updated citation data have just been posted at ScholarMetrics. Continue reading

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The Ethical Concerns of Artificial Intelligence in Urban Planning

See our new open access article in the Journal of the American Planning Association on the ethics of AI in planning. Co-authors Marc Brenman, Xinyue Ye, and I welcome your comments. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01944363.2024.2355305

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Summer 2024 Urban Planning Citation Update

The updated citation data have just been posted at ScholarMetrics. Thanks to those of you who provided corrections, updates, and other faculty information. As mentioned before, there is no (easy) way to provide real-time updates due to Google Scholar limitations. I … Continue reading

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