Land Use

London's Olympics are just the most recent example of the growing trend in building temporary architecture and urbanism in response to financial and practical considerations. Christopher Hawthorne asks whether this trend is too short sighted.

July 31, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

Although the Obama administration is still weighing whether to give the Keystone XL pipeline the necessary approvals to begin construction, the courts are already deciding that eminent domain can be used to secure access to private land.

July 30, 2012 - The Washington Post

Steve Mouzon finds fault with the uniform application of the 1/4 mile walkability radius, regardless of context. And, in the first in a series of articles, he introduces a new tool for understanding and building walkable places.

July 30, 2012 - Original Green

For a city of its size, London and its skyline are notoriously flat. Now, as the city struggles to expand its housing stock to meet the needs of it surging population, increasingly taller solutions are being prescribed, concerning some.

July 29, 2012 - The Global Urbanist

After decades of planning and development of its urban rail networks, will the American West change its image from car cornucopia to transit paradise?

July 29, 2012 - The Architect's Newspaper

Animated GIFs provided by The Atlantic Cities show the dramatic growth of several global cities over the past four decades, as captured in photographs taken by NASA's Landsat satellite system.

July 29, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Several collaborative Google Maps cover Traditional Neighborhood Developments (TNDs) across the US and Canada as well as form-based codes globally. Are yours listed?

July 28, 2012 - PlaceShakers

Denver is confronting a dilemma facing many cities as they build out their transit systems: what types of uses should be developed in close proximity to stations, and who should these facilities serve.

July 27, 2012 - The Wall Street Journal

Ed Walker saw what few others in his hometown of Roanoke, Virgina were able to see: potential. Walker is part a growing group of "vanguard developers" intent on changing the fortunes of their cities by the sheer force of their vision (and wallets).

July 27, 2012 - The New York Times

As cities across America continue to pour public funds into limited use venues in their downtowns, American Dirt looks at why such venues, and convention centers in particular, refuse to engage with their surrounding streets or neighborhood.

July 27, 2012 - American Dirt

A mixed bag of land-use changes, including relaxed parking standards and an increased threshold for environmental review, were passed by the Seattle City Council this week. Critics complain the legislation favors developers over residents.

July 26, 2012 - The Seattle Times

As the 2012 Summer Olympics begin in earnest today with the first Women's Soccer games, Andrew Zimbalist offers 3 reasons why "hosting the Olympics is a losers game."

July 25, 2012 - The Atlantic

You read that right...$7 billion. In a plan to be unveiled today, Amtrak is proposing to transform the second-busiest Amtrak station in the country into a hub for high-speed rail and redevelopment, report Jonathan O'Connell and Ashley Halsey III.

July 25, 2012 - The Washington Post

Continuing a practice long decried by international rights groups, Nigerian authorities gave the residents of the waterfront shantytown of Makoko a scant 72 hours to vacate their homes before demolishing them en masse, reports Robyn Dixon.

July 25, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

Winnie Hu reports on how the reopening of the 65th Street Rail Yard in Brooklyn last week is part of a wider, regional rail expansion effort that aims to revive the moribund industry in order to boost economic and environmental benefits.

July 25, 2012 - The New York Times

Last week, San Francisco's supervisors approved new legislation intended to jump-start urban farming throughout the city, reports John Upton.

July 25, 2012 - Grist

A target of 1950s urban renewal, New Haven is looking to rewrite renewal's wrongs by re-connecting the Hill neighborhood with downtown via a highway cap project. Critics complain the project doesn't go far enough to heal the area's historic wounds.

July 24, 2012 - The New York Times

A group of "urban hacktivists" have been busy transforming Toronto's ubiquitous and ironically named "info pillars" (read: street billboards) into community platforms and art pieces, protesting their improper design and instillation.

July 24, 2012 - The Pop-Up City

As you roast in the record summer heat, here's hoping that Henry Grabar's slide show of improvised urban beaches from across the globe gets you motivated to create one in your city. Hop to it, global warming isn't going away any time soon!

July 24, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

As shifting demographics and the Great Recession increase the functional demands on the typical suburban single-family home, outdated zoning laws are preventing the economical use of underused space, writes S. Mitra Kalita.

July 24, 2012 - The Wall Street Journal