Urban Development

ULI Descends Upon LA With Ideas for Union Station

Carter Rubin at LA Metro’s The Source reports on ULI’s vision for Union Station, which Metro bought for a song earlier this year.

December 11, 2011 - The Source

Proposal Dreams of New York Development Connecting Island to Mainland

The Center for Urban Real Estate unveiled a proposal to connect Lower Manhattan and Governors Island with landfill to spur development in the area. The connection would generate $16.7 billion of revenue for the city, the center estimates.

November 23, 2011 - The New York Times

Hearst Corp Planning To Redevelop San Francisco Block

Hearst Corporation is planning to redevelop the city block that surrounds its San Francisco Chronicle offices at 5th and Mission. The update would include a new mixed use tower containing 1.3 million square feet of commercial space.

November 22, 2011 - SF Gate

Struggling Centers Revitalized With New Tenants

With the increasing popularity of online shopping, many shopping centers are losing retailers left and right. More unusual tenants are filling in the gaps, like gun ranges and bounce houses.

October 27, 2011 - The Wall Street Journal

Western Planners Swoop In To Attack Sao Paulo's 'Worm'

The Big Worm is a 2.2 mile elevated highway carving its way through South America's biggest city, carrying 80,000 vehicles a day past the bedroom windows of once elegant art deco apartment buildings.

October 17, 2011 - The Washington Post

Digging (in) Detroit

Detroit is the darling of the media.

September 21, 2011 - Barbara Knecht

Are TODs Really PODs?

For a while now, I've wondered if we have been mislabeling the development around well functioning transit stops as transit-oriented developments (TODs). This may seem odd, because numerous studies have shown that property values can increase by 20% to 40% percent around transit stops, particularly rail stations (although the increases are uneven).

September 4, 2011 - Samuel Staley

Brownfield Revitalization, or Gentrification?

Residents of the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco fear that redevelopment threatens to gentrify the area in a way that pushes out low- and middle-income black residents.

August 28, 2011 - High Country News

Green Gadget Homes Aimed at Middle Class

Developers in Frederick, ND are aiming to build "green" homes that middle income buyers can afford. The homes are sporting features such as, solar panels, geothermal heating and high-tech computer systems that are typically found in high end homes.

August 27, 2011 - The Washington Post

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

Can Community Land Trusts Work for Retail Centers?

New Orleans, San Francisco, and Albuquerque are exploring, and implementing, community land trusts as an economic development tool that can encourage development in business districts while assuring that local businesses are not displaced.

August 5, 2011 - Shelterforce

Will Postcarbon Cities be More Kid-Friendly?

The post-carbon city will require dramatically different planning. Why not plan them with children in mind, writes Jason McLennan?

August 3, 2011 - Yes! Magazine

Urban Multifamily Leading Real Estate Market Opportunities

Former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneors, now the executive chairman of CityView, makes the case for urban markets as the driving force of the real estate market (including investment from foreign investors) in the near future.

August 2, 2011 - The Planning Report

Preservation and Development Coexist in Hollywood

The Millennium Hollywood, a proposed mixed used development near Sunset Boulevard and Vine Avenue, is expected to increase the density in the area while preserving the nearby Capitol Records building.

June 22, 2011 - The Architect's Newspaper

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

San Diego Folds Planning Department into Development Department

To save $1 million a year, the mayor is folding the Planning Department into the department in charge of processing building permits.

April 29, 2011 - Voice of San Diego

Sprawl, European Style

The U.S. often gets a bad rap for its sprawling suburbs and unplanned development, but Robert Kwolek notes that many European cities and other parts of the world aren't far behind.

April 22, 2011 - Sustainable Cities Collective

Latin America’s Bus Rapid Transit Boom Offers Lessons for the U.S.

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is often the most feasible, quickly implemented and cost-effective way to improve mobility in the United States, concluded a distinguished panel of transport experts at a Brookings Institution event.

March 14, 2011 - TheCityFix.com

The Internet vs. the City

Will digital communications make cities obsolete, or can online connections actually complement the face-to-face interactions and the cities that support them?

March 1, 2011 - New York Times

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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

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