Since its founding in the mid 1990s, Alliance for Downtown New York has long been one of the world's leading business improvement districts. This non-profit organization has presided over the reinvention of New York's historic Financial District as a thriving 24-hour live/work district, while retaining a respectable share of the city's financial services sector. The Alliance built a network of Wi-Fi hotspots that lit up nearly every major public space in the district - not just outdoor locations like Bowling Green and City Hall Park, but also indoor atria like the Winter Garden and 60 Wall Street.
Neighborhood Planning
The Return of Streetcar Architecture
Portland, Oregon sees the revival of building styles not seen since the last time streetcars rolled through the city.
The Oregonian
Opportunities (and Mindfulness) of the Emerging HUD Blueprint
Mon, 05/18/2009 - 04:18
By any measure, the HUD that is now emerging from the shadows of eight years of amateur hour, is focused on the right things: markets, coherent roles for public and private sector alike, and energy efficiency. Indeed the emphasis on "urbanism" and "regionalism" illustrates that this administration "gets it".
Smart Growth Success Stories of 2008
Kaid Benfield, Director of the Smart Growth Program at the NRDC, picks some if his favorite success stories of smart growth transformation, from Atlanta's Beltline to Berlin's Hackesche Hofe.
NRDC Switchboard
The Work of Community Development
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has a plan to help the nation's hardest hit homeowners and neighborhoods. But by concentrating assistance in the most devastated areas, few places will be saved, writes Charles Buki.
Are Form-Based Codes 'Green Zoning'?
Albuquerque's new "form-based codes" could offer city planners another model for denser, more pedestrian-friendly growth.
The New Mexico Independent
What's In A Neighborhood's Name?
Officials in Los Angeles have renamed the former "South Central" to remove the stigma of riots in the 1990's. But some business owners and residents say that's had a greater negative consequence than keeping the old name would have.
The Los Angeles Times
