Twitter has been described as a hell site numerous times, and it can be. Make no mistake: there are large swaths of Twitter that represent the nadir of civilized discourse.

But Twitter is like all great cities: if you keep looking and figure out how to avoid a few key triggers, there are places and people for everyone. "Keep looking until you'll find something you love," is a frequent saying about my home city of Los Angeles. The same is true of Twitter. The same is definitely true of Twitter, if what you love is planning.

Despite an increasing number of hostile factions debating planning-related issues like housing, climate change, and congestion, substantive discussions and relevance information is still available in large supply on Twitter, if you know where to look. Take a tour through the academics and researchers listed here, for instance, and you'll find experts posting on race, housing, urban forestry, renewable energy, Tribal rights, planning pedagogy, and much, much more.

But Twitter is definitely not the same as it was ten years ago, or the first time I made this list for Planetizen in 2014. Previously prominent voices on Twitter have clearly moved on to other platforms and mediums. Others have changed beats or hobbies. New voices have entered and changed the conversation completely. Planning Twitter is younger, creative in new ways, and leveraging a lot more of the Internet (think about the NUMTOTs and TikTok, for example).

There are still the aforementioned hostile factions. This list mostly avoids those scenes, with a few leading advocates sprinkled in to the mix (their opponents probably would characterize them as hostile—Janette SadiKhan wrote a book called Street Fight, for crying out loud) for their contributions to innovations in the practice and the politics of planning. But as the depth and breadth of this list suggests, and as suggested by a recent opinion piece published by the New York Times and written by Sarah J. Jackson, assistant professor of Communication Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Twitter improved the past decade by expanding the voices that reach the ears of those willing to seek out ideas and dialogue.

The Twitter for Urban Planning list was created by auditing three lists that Planetizen has shared in previous iterations of this post, and in the "Lists" feature on Twitter. I rely on my personal "News" list for the daily purpose of curating the news feed for Planetizen, so some of the following list skews toward my own professional needs, but Planetizen also shares a list of local journalists and a list of planning academia (created originally for research by Tom Sanchez at Virginia Tech University).

The list represents a lot of local voices, but not nearly all of the planning voices essential to every city and community in the country. I hope you'll enthusiastically fill in who, and what, I've missed in the comments here, on Twitter or some other social media channel. Living in Los Angeles and being raised in the East Bay in Northern California means there's probably a little extra California representation on here, but I promise they've earned your attention wherever you live. I also left off a few very famous planners who just aren't active participants on Twitter.

Being included on this list doesn't mean being "extremely online," as they say, but it does mean being a regular participant in the conversation about planning. Twitter is hard, so not everyone on this list are Twitter or planning famous (yet), but it does mean that these people are posting consistently, sharing specialized knowledge, reporting original news, and supporting voices that are otherwise underrepresented in media.

So, this list falls admittedly short of comprehensive, and it's subjective as well. But it's a best effort from someone who has spent every day for the past six years on Twitter, constantly seeking new and better sources of information. I hope you find a lot to learn from the Twitter folks found here, and find your own voice to participate in the discussion, if you're sill looking for it.

There's a lot here, but don't feel overwhelmed. I put them all in a list that you can subscribe to called Planning Twitter 2020 on Planetizen's Twitter account.

Planners and Planning

Planning-Related Advocacy

Planning Journalism The Urbanist, @UrbanistOrg

High Country News, @highcountrynews

Maven, @MavensNotebook

CA Planning-Devt Rpt, @Cal_Plan

The Planning Report, @PlanningReport

CityLab, @CityLab

Greater Greater Washington, @ggwash

PlanPhilly, @PlanPhilly

Next City, @NextCityOrg

Urbanize.LA, @UrbanizeLA

BikePortland, @BikePortland

Laura Bliss, @mslaurabliss

Henry Grabar, @henrygrabar

Emily Badger, @emilymbadger

Ben Spurr, @BenSpurr

Renée Loth, @reneeloth

Tim Logan, @bytimlogan

Kea Wilson, @streetsblogkea

Mark Lamster, @marklamster

Inga Saffron, @IngaSaffron

Blair Kamin, @BlairKamin

Carolina A. Miranda, @cmonstah

Steven Litt, @steven_litt

Katharine P. Jose, @kpjose

Matt Levin, @mlevinreports

Sahra Sulaiman, @sahrasulaiman

Ed Blazina, @EdBlazina

Jessica Williams, @jwilliamsNOLA

Miguel Otárola, @motarola123

Erin Baldassari, @e_baldi

Jason Plautz, @Jason_Plautz

Paige Blank, @PaigeBlank

Chris Wetterich, @ChrisCinciBiz

Heather Hansman, @hhansman

Josh Stephens, @jrstephens310

Jen St. Denis, @JenStDen

Oliver Moore, @moore_oliver

Emily Nonko, @EmilyNonko

Jessica Boehm, @jboehm_NEWS

Michael Kimmelman, @kimmelman

Emily DeRuy, @Emily_DeRuy

Brett Widness, @bwidness

Anna Clark, @annaleighclark

Steve Scauzillo, @stevscaz

Erica C. Barnett, @ericacbarnett

John King, @JohnKingSFChron

Emily Alpert Reyes, @AlpertReyes

J.K. Dineen, @SFjkdineen

Frances Bula, @fabulavancouver

Joe Fitz Rodriguez, @FitzTheReporter

Emma G. Fitzsimmons, @emmagf

Alissa Walker, @awalkerinLA

Josh Cohen, @jcohenwrites

Anna Scott, @AnnaKCRW

Jim Saksa, @saksappeal

Sara Sneath, @SaraSneath

Jared Brey, @jaredbrey

Jennifer Pagliaro, @jpags

Paul Goldberger, @paulgoldberger

Laura J. Nelson, @laura_nelson

Pat Smith, @cityresearch

Sally Goldenberg, @SallyGold

Patrick Kennedy, @WalkableDFW

Susie Cagle, @susie_c

Ryan Ori, @Ryan_Ori

Sarah Goodyear, @buttermilk1

John Aguilar, @abuvthefold

Ariella Cohen Turner, @AriellaCohen

Doug Trumm, @dmtrumm

Jessica Lee, @byjlee

Andrew Theen, @andrewtheen

Dakota Smith, @dakotacdsmith

Robert Wilonsky, @RobertWilonsky

Joanna Allhands, @joannaallhands

Dug Begley, @DugBegley

Anna Griffin, @annargriff

Jon Murray, @JonMurray

Angie Schmitt, @schmangee

Jake Blumgart, @jblumgart

Mary Wisniewski, @marywizchicago

Elliot Njus, @enjus

Stephannie Stokes, @stephannnnie

Ben Adler, @badler

Sommer Mathis, @sommermathis

James Bruggers, @jbruggers

Lisa Gray, @LisaGray_HouTX

John Fleck, @jfleck

Laura Laker, @laura_laker

Jonathan Maus, @Jonathan_Maus

Dana Rubinstein, @danarubinstein

Steven Sharp, @EstebanCortante

Zoe Sullivan, @zoesullnews

Oscar Perry Abello, @oscarthinks

Sarah Fenske, @sarahfenske

Patrick Sisson, @patrickcsisson

Kelsey E. Thomas, @kelseyethomas

Liam Dillon, @dillonliam

Erin Mulvaney, @erinmulvaney

Joe Anuta, @joeanuta

Julie Strupp, @struppj

Ian James, @ByIanJames

Erin Durkin, @erinmdurkin

Brian Morelli, @bmorelli

Clara Jeffrey, @ClaraJeffrey

Frederick Melo, @FrederickMelo

Jenna M.McKnight, @JennaMMcknight

Dan Reeed, @justupthepike

Geoff Manaugh, @geoffmanaugh

Marissa J. Lang, @Marissa_Jae

Eric Jaffe, @e_jaffe

Kate Wagner, @mcmansionhell

Wyatt Gordon, @yitgordon

Lisa Halverstadt, @LisaHalverstadt

Scott Frazier, @safrazie

Iris Dimmick, @viviris

Steven Vance, @stevevance

Audrey Henderson, @InTheKn0w

Andrew J. Hawkins, @andyjayhawk

Vianna Davila, @ViannaDavila

Allison Arieff, @aarieff

Katherine Shaver, @shaverk

Ariana Brocious, @ArianaBrocious

Meg Wilcox, @WilcoxMeg

Tina Casey, @TinaMCasey

Planning Academia and Research