Tom Sanchez

What the Data Center Boom Means for Planners It’s tempting to write off the havoc that data centers are wreaking in communities across the country as an IT problem. The truth? It’s a planning problem.

My new column, What the Data Center Boom Means for Planners, has just been posted on @planetizen.bsky.social
Thanks to Laura Schmahmann for her insights on the topic. I look forward to your comments.
lnkd.in/guRjqRSe

Generative AI

My fourth video in the series on Generative AI for Urban Planning is now available on @planetizen.bsky.social This course is "Generative AI, Ethics, and the Future of Urban Planning" and is at: courses.planetizen.com/course/gen-a...

My new @planetizen.bsky.social column is out: AI for Planners Explained: Urban Digital Twins, When AI stops talking and starts showing.
www.planetizen.com/blogs/136842...
Your comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Trump Withdraws the U.S. From More International Organizations

Stepping away from involvement with these agencies will push the world away from directions the US prefers, will undermine US interests, and will handicap global progress in many important areas.

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/u...

Wtf.

Generative AI Tools and Workflows for Urban Planning This course explains the foundational technologies behind generative AI, including GANs (Generative Adversarial Networks), VAEs (Variational Autoencoders), and LLMs (Large Language Models). The tutori...

The second video in my @planetizen.bsky.social training series on Generative AI is now available. Generative AI Tools and Workflows for Urban Planning: courses.planetizen.com/course/gener...

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 us…

Planners, AI, and Community Engagement
tomwsanchez.com/the-dos-and-...

When “Neutrality” Becomes Blindness: The Perils of Censoring Race, Class, and Gender Data in Urban Planning on Planetizen. See my column at: www.planetizen.com/blogs/136267...

See my new book on AI and urban planning: www.routledge.com/Artificial-I...

Will Urban Planners Lose Their Jobs to AI? Let’s see what the data says.

Will Urban Planners Lose Their Jobs to AI?

Will Urban Planners Lose Their Jobs to AI? Let’s see what the data says.

Will Urban Planners Lose Their Jobs to AI?

My latest @planetizen.bsky.social column asks whether planners are on the verge of being sidelined by their own tools, or whether we’ll take the lead in strategizing about how AI will reshape our field. www.planetizen.com/blogs/136043...

Summer 2025 Urban Planning Citation Update
The updated citation data have just been posted at ScholarMetrics.com. Thanks to those of you who provided corrections, updates, and other faculty information.
tomwsanchez.com/summer-2025-...

In Planning, the Possibilities With AI are High. So are the Stakes. Planning history tells us that public trust is both fragile and essential. With AI, the time to set the right course is now.

My new column on AI ethics and urban planning is now available on the @planetizen.bsky.social site. I welcome your questions and comments.https://www.planetizen.com/blogs/135877-planning-possibilities-ai-are-high-so-are-stakes

See my forthcoming book on AI and urban planning. www.routledge.com/Artificial-I...

The Basics of Artificial Neural Networks: What Urban Planners Should Know Planetizen AI columnist Tom Sanchez takes us under the hood of the technology that drives many AI tools.

See my new @planetizen.bsky.social column on The Basics of Artificial Neural Networks: What Urban Planners Should Know. www.planetizen.com/blogs/135694...

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)

tomwsanchez.com/call-for-cha...

Linn Meyers | Untitled (2022) | Artsy From Anat Ebgi, Linn Meyers, Untitled (2022), Acrylic ink and colored pencil on graph paper, 11 × 8 1/2 in

You might like Linn Meyers' work www.artsy.net/artwork/linn...

Artists: Christina Bothwell, Jacy Catlin, Jamison Carter, Margaret Griffith, John Knuth, linn meyers, Catherine Ruane, and Camilla Taylor.

In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the new Design Thinking Creativity has long been key to great urban design. What if we see AI as our new creative partner?

In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the new Design Thinking

In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the new Design Thinking Creativity has long been key to great urban design. What if we see AI as our new creative partner?

See my new column, "In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the new Design on @Planetizen www.planetizen.com/blogs/135418... I welcome your comments.

Planning with Generative AI for Creativity, Global Insight, and Fairness Published in Technology|Architecture + Design (Vol. 9, No. 1, 2025)

My thoughts on GenAI for creativity in planning and design in @tadjournal.bsky.social
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

In TAD 9.1 "Artificial Intelligence and Architectural Intention," Professor Antoine Picon observes that text generation has seen broader acceptance than image generation, partly due to the absence of a third dimension in visual outputs.

Visit www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... to read more.

Voters Wanted Immigration Enforcement, but Not Like This America shouldn’t be doomed to oscillate between two types of chaos. Instead, we need to reembrace the antidote for chaos: the rule of law.

Wow. From Cato: www.cato.org/commentary/v...

Check out my interview with Fanni Melles on her podcast, What is the Future for Cities?
wtf4cities.com/2025/06/05/3...

Sometimes analog works just fine.

Read the first of my monthly @planetizen.bsky.social columns on AI and planning at: www.planetizen.com/features/135...
Your questions, comments, and ideas are greatly appreciated.

Somebody forgot their mouse in the bathroom at Munich Airport. #lostandfound

I need a new car.

Amazing analog calendar. One of the first computers. www.atlasobscura.com/articles/tur...