Economic Development

Publicly-Funded Stadiums Bad Deal for Cities

Sports teams often coerce cities into contributing public funds toward the building of new stadiums. Numerous reports indicate that it's a bad deal for cities with little to no positive economic impact, writes Neal DeMause.

August 21, 2011 - The Nation

NYC Jumps on the Gravy (or, uh, Tomato) Train

Mayor Michael Bloomberg ramps up efforts to support NYC's growing urban food cluster via set up new legislation, signed yesterday.

August 19, 2011 - Initiative for a Competitive Inner City

Community Development Corporations Step In Where Business Fear to Tread

With hundreds of billions of dollars in short-term commercial real estate loans underwater, it's safe to say commercial real estate is in trouble. But can community development corporations confront the lending shortfall?

August 13, 2011 - Shelterforce

Density Brings in More Tax Income Than Big Box

Dense downtowns provide more tax revenues for cities than strip mall and big box development on a per acre basis, according to a new study.

August 10, 2011 - Glendwood Springs Post Independent

Entertainment Industry is Now an Urban Business

With digital cinematography replacing location shooting and huge soundstages, the entertainment industry is becoming a lucrative, sought-after tenant in downtowns and urban areas.

August 8, 2011 - Urban Land

The $94 Billion Annual Funding Gap in Transportation

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released a report this week that offers a bleak outlook at the nation's surface transportation infrastructure - just in time for the imminent Aug. 2 deadline to raise the debt ceiling.

July 29, 2011 - WOWK-TV

Affordable Housing Gives Life to The Bronx

The Bronx is slowly shedding its negative image as it boasts a job growth that is outpacing the entire New York City, and the fastest wage increases than any other borough in the city, reports Daniel Massey for Crain's New York Business.

July 28, 2011 - Crain's New York Business

The Challenge of Long-Term Planning

The sometimes decades-long gap between cause and effect makes it difficult to reverse long-standing transportation & planning policies, says Ben Brown.

July 11, 2011 - PlaceShakers

Food Trends

A comment I hear frequently from planners is that the focus on food and planning is “trendy”. I must admit that this puzzles me quite a bit. Professional planners in rural areas have concentrated on planning for agriculture – food planning – for decades. Before we had professional planners, human populations planned their communities around food, whether they were planning how best to follow herds for hunting, structuring early agricultural societies, or developing the first cities where food proximity and trade were central considerations. 

May 20, 2011 - Lisa Feldstein

Can California Solve Its Budget Deficit and Save Redevelopment?

Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster and a group of local stakeholders is circulating a proposal that would help the state of California and generate revenue for local redevelopment. Is it too late for a win-win in California?

May 4, 2011 - The Planning Report

Jane Jacobs on "Truth," Discovery and the Future of the Soviet Union

As just about everyone in the planning profession now knows, this is the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of The Death and Life of Great American Cities by urbanist icon Jane Jacobs. While Death and Life was itself iconic, Jane Jacobs was also a great public intellectual who continually built on her ideas in subsequent books and articles. 

May 2, 2011 - Samuel Staley

Using Adaptive Reuse as a Tool for Urban Redevelopment

Architect Alan Pullman talks about how adaptive reuse and green architecture can be used to revitalize urban neighborhoods and springboard economic growth, using a recent project to demonstrate.

April 26, 2011 - Buildipedia.com

Are Local Businesses Making a Comeback?

Styled after Harper's Index, this "Localism Index" suggests that local economies and independent businesses might just be making a comeback.

April 19, 2011 - The Nation

The Federal Role in Supporting Urban Manufacturing

Revitalizing American manufacturing is widely-acknowledged as vital to our country’s economic recovery and long-term prosperity, but it is equally essential to understand the changing of this sector in order to make smart policy decisions.

April 17, 2011 - Brookings Institution/Pratt Center for Community Development

Growth Does Not Equal Productivity

Richard Florida writes that population growth and wealth do not go hand in hand -- wealth comes from improvements in productivity. In fact, some of the areas with the biggest leaps in population are suffering real declines in wealth.

April 10, 2011 - Creative Class

Turning a Foreclosed Community Into A Sustainable Neighborhood

In the housing crash of 2007, Atlanta's Pittsburgh community was a focal point for mortgage fraud, mortgage defaults, and foreclosure. By forming a nonprofit community land trust, Atlanta is working to turn the neighborhood around.

April 7, 2011 - Shelterforce

Sprawl Repair? Downtown Retail?

Joel Kotkin said today that cities no longer need outside help. The day before, Bill Fulton talked about growth without population growth. This story focuses on strategies for cities to use land plans as business plans.

January 23, 2011 - PlaceShakers

DC Streetcars to Be a Shot in the Arm

It was nearly 50 years ago, when streetcars were seen on the roadways of downtown Washington, DC. Dan Tangherlini, the former transportation director for the District discusses why streetcars matter in the United States capital.

January 16, 2011 - The City Fix

Development Versus Growth

Healthy children grow bigger, but once people reach maturity at about age 20 continued physical growth is harmful - it makes us fat. It is certainly possible to develop our skills, strength and knowledge, but most adults should not pursue growth as an end in itself. This also applies to communities.

December 23, 2010 - Todd Litman

"Ghost Towns" Emerge from Spain's Economic Crisis

With tens of thousands of unoccupied housing units on the market, the full impact of "problematic" real estate investments on the country's economy remains to be seen.

December 21, 2010 - The New York Times

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