Environmental Design Library
California Planning online

Resources

Government Agencies

Organizations +

Planning Programs

California Planning online is a selected list of approximately 100 web links to California city & regional planning information. Note that many additional print resources are available at the libraries of the University of California, Berkeley. For further assistance, please consult the Environmental Design Library reference staff, 210 Wurster Hall.

UC Berkeley faculty, registered students, and staff who are off campus may use items marked UCB Only or UC Only by using The Library's proxy service or by installing the Connecting@Berkeley CD on their computer.

Last updated: 7 December 2006

Resources: General | Guides | Data | Economic Development | General Plans | Images | Newspapers | Regulations | Transportation

General:

California planner (Amer. Planning Assoc., Calif. Chapter)  Official publication of the California Chapter of the APA. Selected full-text articles.

Online ed.: http://www.calapa.org/PLANNER/planner.html

Paper ed.: Environ Dsgn NA9000 C31
Reports and publications by organization (Land Use Planning Information Network, Calif. Resources Agency) An extensive directory of links to full-text planning-related publications, from a wide range of governmental, non-profit, and private organizations, including the Governor's Office of Planning and Research.

http://ceres.ca.gov/planning/pub_org.html

Guides:

Finding local information (UC Berkeley, Library)  A bibliographic research guide to finding U.S. community-specific information in the UC Berkeley libraries, the community, and on the web, in the context of the built environment and with an emphasis on the San Francisco Bay Area and California.

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/locinfo.html

Data & Statistics: For federal sources of state and local data, see Statistics & Data for City Planning: United States.

Association of Bay Area Governments Data Center:  Great source of San Francisco Bay Area economic and demographic statistics. Categories available inclued: Population and demographics, Land use and maps, and Real estate and housing.

http://www.abag.ca.gov/abag/overview/datacenter/

California county profiles (Calif. Dept. of Finance) A compilation of selected economic, social, and demographic data for California and its 58 counties.

Online ed.:  http://www.dof.ca.gov/html/fs_data/profiles/pf_home.htm

Paper ed.:  1996--; Doe/Refe HA262 C68 Govt/Stat
California demographics (Calif. Dept. of Finance, Demographic Research Unit) Includes California demographic data, selected full-text reports and papers, catalog of publications, etc.

http://www.dof.ca.gov/html/Demograp/druhpar.htm
California Employment Development Department  Site includes extensive full-text employment and labor market data.

http://wwwedd.cahwnet.gov/
The California spatial information library: statewide data index (California Geographic Information Systems(GIS)) Provides metadata, sample views, and ftp links to some of California's physical and cultural geospatial information, previously distributed by the Teale Data Center.

http://gis.ca.gov/data.epl
California statistical abstract (Calif. Dept. of Finance)

Online ed.: 2000; http://www.dof.ca.gov/HTML/FS_DATA/stat-abs/sa_home.htm

Paper ed.: 1958--; Environ Dsgn HA261 A3 latest Reference Desk
Economic Development Alliance for Business (EDAB) Provides economic, demographic, and quality of life information. Also includes a description of the region and information on 15 cities in the East Bay (SF Bay area).

http://www.edab.org/
Index of Silicon Valley (Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network) The JVSVN is a non-profit regional collaborative. The annual Index provides a set of indicators tracking the Silicon Valley's economy and quality of life.

Paper ed.: EnvDesign F868 S25 J75 latest in Reference
Projections ... Silicon Valley: 2004 || 2005 || 2006
San Jose: Silicon Valley Leadership Group (formerly the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group)

Online ed.: http://www.svlg.net/Press%20Room/Library.htm

Paper ed.: 1999--; EnvDesign HD5725 C2 S57
RAND California (RAND) Includes many interesting features, including an extensive database on California and its cities and counties, ranging from the economy to crime rates to housing and an online index of public policy and research publications. Excellent data time series.

http://ca.rand.org/
REGIS--Research program in environmental planning and geographic information systems (UC Berkeley, College of Environmental Design) Provides links to GRASSLinks on-line GIS for the San Francisco Bay Area, aerial photos, and more.

http://www.regis.berkeley.edu/
UC Data: Data archive & technical assistance (UC Berkeley) UC Berkeley's principal archive of computerized social science and health sciences data.

http://ucdata.berkeley.edu/

Economic Development:

Bay Area labor-economic digital directory, (UC Berkeley, Institute of Industrial Relations Library) An annotated electronic research guide to the San Francisco Bay Area. Excellent site.  Both print and web resources are listed.

http://www.iir.berkeley.edu/library/webguides/baledd/index.html
California Association for Local Economic Development

http://www.caled.org/
California Economic Conditions (UC Berkeley, Library) Research guide for finding economic information and data on California. Includes many links.

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/BUSI/bbg14.html
California Economic Development Department--Publications

http://wwwedd.cahwnet.gov/formpub.htm
California Economic Diversification & Revitalization (CEDAR) (Calif. State Library & Calif. State Trade and Commerce Agency)  Includes major information nodes for military base reuse, doing business in California, and jobs, education, and training.

http://www.cedar.ca.gov/
Community economic development online (UC Berkeley, Library)  Includes links to U.S. and California web sites.

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/commdev.html

General Plans:

Plans (Calif. Resources Agency)  Includes full-text versions of certain categories of California plans: county general plans; habitat conservation plans; regional plans; and tribal plans. Part of the CERES' LUPIN project. Supported by the Berkeley Digital Library Project.

http://ceres.ca.gov/planning/plans/index.html
California local planning documents database (UC Berkeley, Institute of Governmental Studies Library) A searchable list of current California planning documents, primarily city and county general plans and specific elements.

http://www.igs.berkeley.edu/library/calplans.html
California planners book of lists (Governor's Office of Planning and Research, & Calif. Resources Agency) Lists general plans and specific plan elements by municipality. A practical classic. Also includes directories of California local planning agencies and of the California Councils of Government and their jurisdictions.

Online ed.: 1996--; http://www.calpin.ca.gov/archives/default.asp

Paper ed.: 1986--; Environ Dsgn HT393 C3 C3435 latest Reference Desk
Finding general plans for cities & local communities (UC Berkeley, Library) A bibliography and guide to finding general plans, with a focus on California and San Francisco Bay Area plans.

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/genplans.html

Images:

Catalog of Aerial Photography (UC Berkeley, Library)  Online catalog to many thousands of aerial photographs of San Francisco, the East Bay, the greater Bay Area, and northern California. The images are available in the UC Berkeley Earth Sciences & Map Library. A few are also available online.

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/air-catalog.html
California Coastal Records Project The site contains over 20,500 digital aerial photographs of the current California coastline. Images from a 1972 aerial survey are also available.

http://www.californiacoastline.org/
California heritage project (UC Berkeley, Library) A digital archive containing photographs, pictures, and manuscripts from the collections of The Bancroft Library. Includes many historical images of SF Bay Area places.

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/CalHeritage/

Newspapers:

News Databases: A comprehensive list of digital newspaper indexes, many offering full text online, available to the UC Berkeley community.

http://sunsite2.berkeley.edu:8088/ERF/servlet/ERFmain?cmd=searchResType&resTypeId=17
California newspapers via NewsBank - UCB Only  Select America's Newspapers.  Access to the full text of 70 California newspapers, including the following: Contra Costa Times 1995-, Fresno Bee 1986-, Press Democrat (Santa Rosa) 1994-, Sacramento Bee 2000-, San Francisco Chronicle 1989-, San Jose Mercury News 1985-.

http://infoweb.newsbank.com

Regulations, Laws, Codes:

California legislative information (California Legislative Counsel) California legislative information. Includes searchable database of current California State Assembly & Senate bills.

http://bob.ucsc.edu/library/gov/Calif/leginfo.html
California local codes and charters (UC Berkeley, Institute of Governmental Studies Library) Online index of the California local code collection of IGSL. Includes links to full-text web versions of local California codes where available.

http://www.igs.berkeley.edu/library/calcodes.html
Environmental documents (UC Berkeley, Berkeley Digital Library)  This searchable full-text collection includes documents, maps, articles, and reports on the California environment including Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs), educational pamphlets, water usage bulletins, and county plans. Documents in this collect ion come from the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), California Department of Fish and Game (DFG), San Diego Association ofGovernments (SANDAG), and by author for an alphabetical list of authoring agencies.

http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/docs/
Environmental planning (UC Berkeley, Library)  Lists a selection of web sites pertaining to environmental planning, selected to support landscape architecture, environmental planning, and city planning programs at the University of California, Berkeley.  Good selection of California sites.

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/environ.html
Handbooks & professional practice (UC Berkeley, Library) Included are codes of professional ethics, handbooks, planning regulations, and other material of interest to the practicing American planner, with a particular emphasis on California planning.

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/handbks.html
Land use planning information network (LUPIN) (Calif. Resources Agency) A project of the California Environmental Resources Evaluation System (CERES). Provides a searchable full-text database of California environmental assessment documents, general plans, maps, photos, regulatory documents, etc.

http://www.ceres.ca.gov/planning/
Planning, zoning, and development laws (Calif. Governor's Office of Planning and Research) - 1998 || 2000 || 2004  Supported by the Berkeley Digital Library Project.

Online ed.: http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/doc_home?elib_id=639

Paper ed.: 1983--; Environ Dsgn KFC811 A31 latest Reference

Transportation:

Bay Area Transportation and Land Use Coalition

http://www.transcoalition.org/
Beyond gridlock: meeting California's transportation needs in the twenty first century (.pdf), by James Corless and Sharon Sprowls].  [San Francisco, CA]: Surface Transportation Policy Project, 2000

Online ed.: http://www.transact.org/ca/gridlock/ca%20report.pdf

Paper ed.: IGS  00 01219; ITSL HE336 C64 C67 2000
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)

http://www.dot.ca.gov
Institute of Transportation Studies Library (UC Berkeley) Includes links to major transportation web sites, as well as other useful information.

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ITSL/
Metropolitan Transportation Commission The transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.

http://www.mtc.ca.gov/

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Government Agencies not listed elsewhere in this guide:

Directories:

abagOnline (Assoc. of Bay Area Governments)  Includes links to San Francisco Bay Area city and county web sites.

http://www.abag.ca.gov/index.html
Government web sites (Calif. State Assoc. of Counties) Includes links to California county websites.

http://www.csac.counties.org/default.asp?id=3
Official city sites (State of California) Directory of links to California city and county web sites.

http://officialcitysites.com/california.htm

State:

California State Government (Home Page)

http://www.ca.gov/state/portal/myca_homepage.jsp
Business, Transportation & Housing Agency

http://www.bth.ca.gov/
California Department of Housing & Community Development

http://www.hcd.ca.gov/
California Department of Real Estate

http://www.dre.cahwnet.gov/default.htm
California Department of Water Resources

http://wwwdwr.water.ca.gov/
California Division of the State Architect

http://www.dsa.ca.gov/
California Environmental Protection Agency

http://www.calepa.ca.gov/
California Environmental Resources Evaluation System (CERES) (Calif. Resources Agency)  The site includes a section on environmental law, regulation, and policy, w ith a California emphasis.

http://ceres.ca.gov/
California Housing Finance Agency

http://www.calhfa.ca.gov/
California Resources Agency

http://resources.ca.gov/
California State Lands Commission  Includes text of environmental impact reports and GIS data.

http://www.slc.ca.gov/
California Tahoe Conservancy (Calif. Resources Agency)

http://www.tahoecons.ca.gov/
Governor's Office of Emergency Services

http://www.oes.ca.gov/
Governor's Office of Planning and Research

http://www.opr.ca.gov/

Regional:

Association of Bay Area Governments  The regional governance organization for the San Francisco Bay Area nine county region.  Excellent web site, with links to Bay Area city, county, and regional sites.

http://www.abag.ca.gov/index.html
California Central Valley Economic Development Corp. Includes links to Central Valley county and economic development corporation web sites.

http://www.californiacv.com/
Inter-Regional Partnership  The IRP is a group of elected officials which is focussed on issues related to jobs/housing balance, transportation and air quality which cut across county and regional boundaries. Members represent Contra Costa, Alameda, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Santa Clara counties.

http://www.abag.ca.gov/planning/interregional/index.html
Sacramento Area Council of Governments

http://www.sacog.org/
San Diego Association of Governments  Comprised of representatives of 18 incorporated cities and San Diego County in the San Diego region.

http://www.sandag.cog.ca.us/
Sierra Planning Organization  Directed by elected officials from local government agencies in Sierra, Nevada, Placer, and El Dorado counties.

http://www.ceres.ca.gov/sposedd/hom29.html
Southern California Association of Governments

http://www.scag.ca.gov/
Tahoe Regional Planning Agency

http://www.trpa.org/

Organizations +:

American Planning Association, California Chapter  Includes selected articles from California Planner and codes of ethics.

http://www.calapa.org/
California Association for Local Economic Development

http://www.caled.org/
California Futures Network

http://www.calfutures.org/
California Planning Roundtable

http://www.cproundtable.org/
California Redevelopment Association

http://www.calredevelop.org/
California State Association of Counties

http://www.csac.counties.org/
The Great Valley Center  Excellent web site, with links to data and organizations concerned with the economic development of the California Central Valley.

http://www.greatvalley.org/
Institute of Governmental Studies Library (UC Berkeley) An excellent source of California local government and public policy information.

http://www.igs.berkeley.edu/library/
League of California Cities

http://www.cacities.org/
San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association

http://www.spur.org/
Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group Concerned with major public policy issues affecting the economic health and quality of life in Silicon Valley.

http://www.svmg.org/
Urban Ecology  Located in Oakland, California, Urban Ecology uses "urban planning, ecology, and public participation to help design and build healthier cities."

http://www.urbanecology.org/index.htm

Planning Programs in California:

Calif. State Polytechnic Univ., San Luis Obispo, City and Regional Planning

http://planning.calpoly.edu/
Calif. State Polytechnic Univ., Pomona, Dept. of Urban and Regional Planning

http://www.intranet.csupomona.edu/~urp/
Calif. State Univ., Chico, Geography and Planning

http://wizard.csuchico.edu/
Calif. State Univ., Northridge, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning

http://www.csun.edu/~hfoao078/
Calif. State Univ., San Diego, City Planning Program

http://psfa.sdsu.edu/spaus/p_city_planning.htm
Calif. State Univ., San Jose, Dept. of Urban Planning

http://www2.sjsu.edu/urbanplanning/up0d131.htm
UC Berkeley, College of Environmental Design

http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/
-----. Dept. of City & Regional Planning

http://www-dcrp.ced.berkeley.edu/

UC Irvine, Dept. of Urban and Regional Planning

http://www.seweb.uci.edu/ppd/
UCLA, Dept. of Architecture + Urban Design

http://www.aud.ucla.edu/
UCLA, Dept. of Urban Planning

http://www.sppsr.ucla.edu/dup/home_dup.htm
UC San Diego, Urban Studies and Planning Program

http://usp.ucsd.edu/
USC, School of Urban and Regional Planning

http://www.usc.edu/dept/supd

Compiled by Deborah Sommer, City Planning Librarian
Environmental Design Library

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