Community / Economic Development

Starting Up Small

Though typically centered in bigger cities, this piece from Business Week looks at the best small cities to locate startup businesses in every state.

March 28, 2009 - BusinessWeek

Boston Neighborhoods to See Rail-Related Upgrades

New stations for the Fairmount rail line in Boston has made its surrounding neighborhoods targets for redevelopment by community organizations, which may rebuild up to a dozen properties.

March 26, 2009 - The Boston Globe

HUD Homeownership Program Shows Promise

An ambitious HUD program promoting homeownership in troubled neighborhoods is, by some accounts, "one of the more intelligent things HUD has done in its history."

March 26, 2009 - The Christian Science Monitor

"Communiversity": A Bond You Can't Break

College towns fare relatively well during a recession due to the stable, highly skilled work force colleges offer their communities.

March 25, 2009 - The Wall Street Journal

Staten Island Rail on the Drawing Board

A year-long study of the proposed West Shore Light Rail finds that the borough could draw nine stations and about 13,000 riders traveling within Staten Island or to Manhattan.

March 25, 2009 - Staten Island Advance

Not Quite the Urban Utopia

When Andres Duany planned the village of Cornell, he built in walkability, density, and mixed-use. The outcome, however, falls short of the New Urbanist vision; driving is the norm and retail is scarce. What happened?

March 25, 2009 - Posted Toronto

Sustaining the New Urbanism

New urbanists ponder how they can adapt to the new economic climate and avoid the fate of their predecessors.

March 25, 2009 - New Urban News

Rebirth Through Art in Abandoned Detroit

This piece from NPR looks at what artists are doing in Detroit to snatch up abandoned homes and convert them into community centers and art spaces.

March 24, 2009 - NPR

Unappreciated Cyclists In Sausalito

Marin County has a reputation to live up to. In this column, Sausalito does just that in its treatment of hordes of cycling tourists who rent bikes on Fisherman's Wharf, pedal across the GG Bridge to have lunch in Sausalito, and return on the ferry.

March 24, 2009 - San Francisco Chronicle

New York's 'Slaughtered Neighborhoods'

Likening the impact of the economic crisis to a dirty bomb or a "second 9/11", Tom Engelhardt takes the reader on a tour of what remains of his once-vibrant New York neighborhood.

March 24, 2009 - TomDispatch

Draft Master Plan Released in New Orleans

A new master plan for New Orleans has been released. Controversy is expected on the highly anticipated plan as public input is gathered.

March 23, 2009 - New Orleans Times Picayune

Duany on Restoring New Orleans

Andrés Duany observes that American planners and architects are misunderstanding New Orleans by thinking of it as an American city rather than a Caribbean one.

March 22, 2009 - New Geography

Clean Coal Stimulus Funds Put To Work In Indiana

Duke Energy hopes to tap $3.4 billion of stimulus funds to build the nation's first clean coal plant, burning the coal in a gaseous form and storing the CO2 emissions. It already has received federal funds to build the $2.35 coal power plant in IN.

March 20, 2009 - The New York Times: Energy & Environment

A New Paris, as Dreamed by Planners

Nine-month study commissioned by President Nicolas Sarkozy aims to transform Paris and its surrounding suburbs into the first sustainable “post-Kyoto" city.

March 19, 2009 - The New York Times

Habitat Tears Down Shrinking City's Houses

Habitat for Humanity, known for building low-cost, affordable houses, has taken to deconstructing homes in Saginaw, MI. Reselling the materials and building smaller homes in their stead make more sense than rehabilitating an old house, they say.

March 19, 2009 - The New York Times

Maxed Out on Billboards

The city of Waco, Texas, imposes limits on new billboards--hoping to reduce its overall inventory with a "cap and replace" strategy.

March 19, 2009 - News 8 Austin

The 'Loin's Grunge and Grime Now Historic

Stocked with architectural gems but fraught with crime, San Francisco's Tenderloin district has long been debated as a possible historic site. The debate is now over, as it was recently named to the National Register of Historic Places.

March 19, 2009 - San Francisco Chronicle

Catering to Oakland's Enclaves

A one-size-fits-all urban landscape doesn't mean that different ethnic neighborhoods don't find ways to personalize them. A UC Berkeley graduate student investigates how cultures perceive space.

March 18, 2009 - San Francisco Chronicle

Redesigning City Design

President Obama has promised to give cities a new image, one as the engines that drive the economy and whose issues are intertwined with those of the suburbs. This article looks at some of the big ideas shaping the new city.

March 18, 2009 - Architect Magazine

Planner's Predictions Uncovered

Fifty years ago, Kenneth E. Norwood placed a time capsule and his predictions for Burbank, CA in a newly constructed bridge. According to the planner, monorails and "multi-unit garden apartments" were the waves of the future.

March 18, 2009 - Los Angeles Times Blog

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.