The Washington Post

After the federal government pulled its recommendation for funding a rail extension that would connect the Washington D.C.-area to Dulles International Airport, private investors are looking to get in the ring and save the plan.

A planned rail extension that would have connected the Washington D.C. area to Dulles International Airport has been all but killed by a federally-pushed disqualification of the project from receiving critical federal funding.

Despite recent findings by consultants that a plan to extend the Washington D.C. metro rail system to Dulles International Airport would qualify for full funding, federal officials are hesitant to approve it, fearing another Big Dig.

Design teams presented their visions for the future of Washington D.C. recently. Their outlook was overwhelmingly dire.

The first 4.7 miles of a streetcar network have been funded along a major corridor in Northern Virginia.

Rural farmers in China want legal ownership rights for the state-owned lands they farm.

In Washington, D.C., the historic preservation office will not allow a ramp to the front door of a 1930s rowhouse, so elderly residents must live in the basement that has access to a back alley.

This op-ed by Eduardo Peñalver, a Cornell professor of property and land-use law, suggests that escalating gas prices and declining home prices may drive development inward, presenting a great opportunity to end sprawl using regional planning.

Many economists are predicting the continued slowing of the commercial real estate market across the country.

This column from The Washington Post looks at the housing and development trends presented by the American Institute of Architects' Home Design Trends survey.

More than 50,000 people were added to the population of Louisiana in 2007, where growth has been gradual since more than 250,000 fled after Hurricane Katrina. Nevada has regained its long-held title as the nation's fastest growing state.

Transit fares were recently increased for the Washington D.C. Metro transit system. The fare hike is the largest increase in the agency's history.

The regional association of governments in Washington D.C. is calling on its member cities to put more emphasis on encouraging environmentally friendly development.

With increasing train ridership and more people shying away from the gas pump, Neal Peirce asks whether now might be Amtrak's time to shine.

On the tail of a recent announcement that Washington D.C. would decommission up to two dozen public schools, columnist Roger K. Lewis suggests that the closings can be a good thing, and that they open the door for adaptive reuse.

In a gentrifying neighborhood in Washington D.C., residents are campaigning against a local liquor store they say encourages littering and public drunkenness. But longtime neighborhood residents defend the store, calling it a neighborhood staple.

With more and more land receiving federal protection as National Heritage Areas, property rights activists are butting heads with the preservationists they say are taking rights away from landowners.

In response to the outcry over a proposed chemical factory, the City of Xiamen has published an environmental impact report and is seeking public input on the project -- something rarely seen in China.

A storefront museum dedicated to the history and development of Reston, Virginia -- one of the nation's first planned new towns -- is set for a major expansion.

After a string of pedestrian fatalities, Montgomery County, Maryland, is pushing a broad plan to improve pedestrian safety.