The Hartford Courant

The myth of the American West as a wild, natural place is long gone, says urban studies professor Carl Abbott. The Western U.S. is actually the most urban part of the nation.

New London, Connecticut, like many victims of the 1970s, was saddled with a harsh, ineffective public plaza at the heart of its downtown. Planners are working to return the plaza to its historic form.

While the city's regional approach is the envy of many American planners, Shanghai is also guilty of top-down planning that may end up encouraging sprawl.

New research from the University of Connecticut shows that on-street parking is a key ingredient in a vibrant and pedestrian-friendly downtown.

Green roofs offer an opportunity for outdoor space and gardening for people with little or no yards.

With observations from six world cities on four continents, the new book "Endless City" calls for development that supports people and the environment, rather than automobiles.

Reining sprawl may require "redirecting" it.

Census 2010 is on the way, and a new report is warning that the high concentration of illegal immigrants in the South and West will skew counts and unfairly reapportion more congressional seats to states with more undocumented people.

Connecticut could learn a lesson from neighboring New Jersey about how to improve its transit infrastructure.

Though former Governor Perris Glendening lead the charge for smart growth in Maryland, its hard to tell if the state's policies have curbed sprawl significantly.

Transit officials in Texas are looking to convince Congress to let the state buy back sections of interstate highway for conversion into revenue-generating toll roads.

Developers in Connecticut look to Las Vegas as an example of how to most successfully develop land around nearby casinos.

Recounting a recent trip to Great Barrington, Massachusetts, writer Philip Langdon shares the pleasure of the small town's main street.

With many developers touting their various projects as "smart growth", the term is losing much of it meaning.

While leasing public roads to private companies for large cash payments might be attractive for some public officials, it doesn't help solve the larger issues facing the country's transportation system.

Mayor Tom Menino's proposal to move Boston City Hall to the south waterfront ignores the importance of the building's location, and the recent developments in downtown.

With no graduate urban planning programs at any of the state's public or private universities, the American Planning Association's Connecticut Chapter is working with University of Connecticut to establish a master's program in planning.

Federal employees are often located in suburban areas away from transit, going against a policy of locating offices in downtown locations.

Outside developers are rushing into the growing student housing market as colleges and universities look for ways to lower costs.

Anthony Flint asks: What can we learn from the failures of Boston's Big Dig about what needs to change about planning and building mega-projects?