Associated Press

Before Katrina, New Orleans was unfriendly and unpopular for cyclists. Today, the city has 15 streets with bike lanes totaling 40 miles of bike pathway, and is gunning to be as bike-friendly as Portland or Seattle.

A study by the National League of Cities says how the economic recession has finally started to hit cities as property- and income-tax have decreased. Cities are balancing their budgets through layoffs, canceled construction projects or raised fees.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors expect the number of challenges to be higher than the 1,200 challenges filed for the 2000 Census because regions claimed to have received low population counts.

With plans to greatly reduce seating capacities and export an entire stadium, Qatar is hoping to reduce the negative long-term impact of its hosting of the 2022 World Cup.

Officials in Detroit have demolished 3,000 buildings over the course of the last year, a goal set by Mayor Dave Bing.

Officials in Southern Sudan are floating a fleet of proposals to build new cities in the shape of animals and fruits.

A town in New York has been using satellite imagery from Google Earth to identify illegally-built pools.

In the face of an $800 million budget gap, the MTA just blinked, closing the W and V lines on Friday night. More than 30 bus routes are also scheduled to close in an effort to save $93 million.

The new "Sex and the City" movie was set -- but not shot -- in Abu Dhabi. Now officials there are trying to decide whether or not to release the film to local audiences, as the city tries to control its brand and image.

The recent corruption bust that resulted in the arrests of more than 40 people in New Jersey shows the interesting shape of the development process in the state.

It's going to cost Brazil more than $42 billion in infrastructure costs to host the 2014 soccer World Cup, according to a recent report.

The drama over water between Florida, Alabama and Georgia is heating up, as a U.S. District Court ruled recently that Georgia's withdrawals from Lake Lanier are illegal. It's going to have to find a new source of water -- and inter-state cooperation.

That's the ratio on summer weekends downtown in Newport, Rhode Island. A coalition of local businesses, advocates and city officials are brainstorming solutions.

Residents in 600 American neighborhoods are breathing air with levels of pollution that put them at an elevated risk of developing cancer.

The $8.5 billion CityCenter casino complex designed for the Las Vegas Strip had been stalled over financial issues between two of the funders, but now an agreement has been reached and the mega project is set to complete on time.

A slightly watered-down version of the traffic reduction methods the Chinese city of Beijing instituted in Summer 2008 to reduce congestion and pollution during the Olympics has been extended for another year.

The Los Angeles suburb of Industry has approved plans to build a stadium in the city in hopes of luring a football team back to the L.A. area.

Architect Oscar Niemeyer has released plans to build new iconic buildings near the UNESCO-protected cultural and government center he designed in Brasilia 50 years ago. But locals have voiced opposition.

Legal actions have been brought against more than a dozen Amish residents in Wisconsin and New York for building structures in their traditional style, but without building permits.

Somalian pirates are creating a booming economy of caterers, luxury cars, and high-end chefs in the northern coastal towns of the impoverished country. "The pirates depend on us, and we benefit from them," said one shopkeeper.