NPR

Foreclosed homes in Phoenix are a new goldmine for one developer, who is buying up land near the city's mass transit lines and marketing properties as transit oriented development.

The U.S. Military are on the verge of releasing its new air fighter, the F-35, and about 200 U.S. bases are under consideration to house them. The new planes are three to 12 times louder than existing planes, which has some base neighbors on edge.

As the city of New Orleans rebuilds its flooded and destroyed neighborhoods, a new design from architect Thom Mayne seeks to counteract the flood-prone area by simply floating.

Rio de Janeiro has been selected as the host of the 2016 Summer Olympics. This analysis from NPR looks at why the Brazilian city was the obvious choice.

This report from NPR looks at Houston's growth pattern, and the evolution of a city that at once provides a high quality of life but also creates a big environmental impact.

NPR's Ari Shapiro bikes from NPR headquarters to a new D.C. bike storage center outside D.C.'s Union Station. The City of Washington hopes that it will encourage more commuters to use transit and bikes to get to work.

A proposed Wal-Mart retail center near a Civil War battlefield in Virginia has preservationists up in arms.

New studies rank cities based on the extent to which they "criminalize homelessness."

Collecting Census data can be a daunting task. But in some places, like New York City, just finding the people to survey can be most of the challenge.

The Democrats of the U.S. House of Representatives have passed a bill that would create a green school building program in the U.S., investing more than $6 billion in its first year to build more environmentally friendly schools.

Clean energy is a major component of the Obama Administration's plans for an upgraded electricity grid. But with variable outputs, clean energy generation from solar and wind will need to be augmented, according to this piece from NPR.

As the automotive industry takes a deep hit during the current economic recession, many tie the Detroit's hopes to those of the auto industry. But Richard Florida argues Detroit needs to think beyond the car business.

The Hope for Homeowners Act was designed to allow foreclosed homeowners to keep their homes by drawing up new and more affordable mortgages for qualified applicants. Barney Frank is one of many proclaiming it a failure.

On the state's path towards drawing 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by the end of 2010, California is focusing on its southern desert as the site of this alternative energy generation.

How do you turn a cul-de-sac into a commune? It's easier than you think, according to this piece from NPR.

Amid the recession, industrial towns in the Rust Belt have been forced to evolve as jobs dry up. But this is nothing new for the region, where towns have been re-imagining their economies for decades. NPR reports.

This piece from NPR looks at what artists are doing in Detroit to snatch up abandoned homes and convert them into community centers and art spaces.

Randall O'Toole- in a curiously non-audio opinion piece from NPR- says that trains around the world are fun but are otherwise overly expensive transportation systems used mainly by the elite.

Braddock is a town that lost 90% of its population in the aftermath of the steel industry's collapse. NPR's Jack Lyden talks with mayor John Fetterman about his efforts to revitalize the area.

As air travel security tightens and high speed rail expands, getting in and around Spain is becoming easier on the rails than in the sky.