Citiwire

Neal Peirce looks at the daunting challenges facing the new White House Office of Urban Affairs.

The idea of sustainability is growing up, and as concerns about the environment take hold in cities from the bottom up, some are calling for a more sophisticated approach to "green" city development, write Anthony Flint and William Shutkin.

Vivek Kundra, the Washington D.C. chief technology officer who created an innovative publicly accessible database of city information, will be heading to a new office in D.C. -- at the White House.

A new government-sponsored watchdog website will allow citizens to track stimulus-funded projects. It's an effort to insure accountability. Neal Pierce wonders if that accountability will translate into smarter patterns of development.

The federal stimulus package has made infrastructure into a hot topic among states. But, as Mary Newsom writes, states are not addressing the land use patterns that drive up the costs and bring down the efficiency of infrastructure.

As stimulus money trickles down to states, many worry the best laid plans for spending it will devolve into a frantic money grab among municipalities. But, according to this piece from Mark Muro, there are signs of order at the metropolitan level.

Building bicycle infrastructure is expensive. Finding it is free. This piece from Citiwire implores cities to rethink quiet streets as "bicycle boulevards".

As U.S.-Cuba relations evolve with a new presidential administration, author Richard Louv argues that officials should be careful about relying on commerce to save the country's decaying urban areas without preserving them.

Creating transit, and planning around it, will be the key to success for metro areas, according to a new report from New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Neal Peirce reflects on the happier moments of 2008 -- and a future that seems bent on creating better places and communities.

America's growing regional metropolises can be the guiding light for America's urban revival, according to Manuel Pastor, Jr.

Neal Peirce takes a hopeful look at President-elect Barack Obama's willingness to invest in infrastructure.

Tough economic times spell troubles for city budgets. One way to cut back on costs is to rethink operation of seemingly untouchable public safety services like police and firefighters, according to this column from Neal Peirce.

President-Elect Barack Obama is seen by many urbanists as a great opportunity for improving the built environment of the U.S. Anthony Flint sees big plans brewing but wonders how they'll be funded and if Obama will be able to handle them all.

Democrats are in cities and Republicans are in rural areas, according to the results of recent elections. But with two metropolitan candidates in this year's election and an increasingly urbanized populace, that split may become obsolete.

The next president should take farming seriously and personally, according to Neal Pierce, who writes that rethinking the scale of food production is smart for regions, the environment and the economy.

Despite the $700 billion financial bailout plan, the suburbs will continue to lose population and value, according to Peter Katz. He says it's time for the government to prevent suburban development that is only doomed to fail.

In this piece from Citiwire, Jonathan D. Miller argues that infrastructure and the economy are not islands. Improving the nation's infrastructure, he says, will improve the economy.

If we can bail out the investment industry, we should be able to bail out our failing infrastructure, according to this column from Neal Peirce.

Neal Pierce looks at America's addiction to incarceration and drug prohibition and wonders what -- if anything -- the presidential candidates would do to change the country's course.