Community / Economic Development

Problem: New Orleans Floods. Solution: A Floating House?

Architect Thom Mayne and a team of UCLA architecture students have created the first floating house permitted in the U.S. as part of a mission to help flood-ravaged New Orleans.
8 October 2009 - 6:00am
UCLA Newsroom

A Backyard Battle: Trials of a Garden-Variety NIMBY

Nandita Godbole advocates for parks and greenspaces around Atlanta. But when faced with a struggle over keeping her own quarter-acre backyard open and free, she found she was powerless.
8 October 2009 - 5:00am

Enabling Coexistence Through the Open City

The theme of this year's International Architecture Biennale is "Open City: Designing Coexistence". Places Journal talks with the biennale's chief curator about what that means to planners, designers and architects.
8 October 2009 - 5:00am
Places Journal

"Not Your Father's White House": Obama's Urban Renewal Agenda

With Adolfo Carrion Jr. appointed as a "cities czar" and federal stimulus dollars flowing to urban sustainability projects, the Obama Administration aims to concentrate development to boost "environmentally and economically viable neighborhoods."
7 October 2009 - 2:00pm
Washington Post

Jakartans Demand Public Space

Residents of the city of Penjaringan in North Jakarta brought a proposal to the government to convert the area underneath a toll road into a public space.
7 October 2009 - 8:00am
The Jakarta Post

'Zombie Subdivisions' Eating America's Suburbs

Thousands of subdivisions across the country have been abandoned mid-development by owners and developers hit hard by the economic recession. This video takes a tour inside one of these "zombie subdivisions".
7 October 2009 - 7:00am
CNN

Fighting the Invasive Species of the Galapagos: Humans

Drawn to the Galapagos Islands by their booming tourism industry, thousands of poor Ecuadorians are being booted from the sensitive ecosystem to counteract the negative impact of the rising human population.
7 October 2009 - 6:00am
The New York Times

O'Toole Blames Planners for Housing Crisis

In a new report with the Cato Institute, Randal O'Toole takes off the gloves and lays the blame for the housing crisis squarely on urban planners.
6 October 2009 - 12:00pm
The Cato Institute

Municipal Vaporware: Why NYC's Data Mine is A Data Dump

Tue, 10/06/2009 - 10:55
This morning, Mayor Mike Bloomberg unveiled New York City's long-awaited Big Apps contest. Big Apps seeks to promote the Internet industry in the Big Apple (it's sponsored by the New York City Economic Development Corporation) and make local government more transparent.

I've been following the evolution of open data initiatives at the municipal level for about a year now, and was really hoping that New York was going to set the bar for future efforts across the country. It doesn't. In fact it's hard to understand why some notable local tech superstars like investors Fred Wilson and John Borthwick would sign on to such a lame effort.

Norquist's Legacy

John Norquist is today the president of CNU, but from 1988-94 he was Mayor of Milwaukee. His legacy is apparent today in the city, says blogger Urban Engagement.
6 October 2009 - 9:00am
Urban Engagement blog

Why Rio Won the 2016 Olympics

Rio de Janeiro has been selected as the host of the 2016 Summer Olympics. This analysis from NPR looks at why the Brazilian city was the obvious choice.
5 October 2009 - 2:00pm
NPR

Fixing A Neighborhood, From Soup to Nuts

Campbell Soup Company is taking a leading role in redeveloping the rough Gateway neighborhood of Camden, NJ.
5 October 2009 - 11:00am
Next American City

Fighting The Blight Of Vacant Retail

Time Magazine takes a look at the growing problem of vacant storefronts across the U.S., and what some intrepid souls are doing about it.
5 October 2009 - 8:00am
Time Magazine

Worker Bees

Michael S. Thompson of the Chicago Honey Co-op discusses his urban beekeeping operation and how it provides jobs to otherwise hard-to-employ people.
3 October 2009 - 1:00pm
Orion Magazine

The Rural Recession

A new report from the Economic Research Service looks at how the economic recession is affecting rural areas. For the most part, things are a lot worse in America's nonmetro areas.
3 October 2009 - 11:00am
The Daily Yonder

Top 10 Cities for Today's Youth

The Wall St. Journal assembled a panel to determine which cities will be the next 'youth-magnets,' using factors like economic diversity and lifestyle to make their selections. Number one? A tie between Washington, D.C. and Seattle.
2 October 2009 - 10:00am
The Wall St. Journal

1 in 3 Mortgage Applications Denied in 2008

The Federal Reserve announced that 32% of loan applications were denied last year, and applications on the whole were down by a third from 2007.
1 October 2009 - 2:00pm
Builder Magazine

TOD Becoming Popular -- And Expensive

HUD-subsidized housing in transit-oriented developments could become more expensive as it ages out and TOD becomes more popular, says a new study by AARP, Reconnecting America and the National Housing Trust.
1 October 2009 - 12:00pm
Reconnecting America
Syndicate content