Washington Post

The eastern Capital Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. was 87% black in 2000: new Census figures show the black population is now only 44% and 47% white. The Wall St. Journal talks to people in this changing community.

Maryland's Governor O'Malley, heading into his 2nd and last term, wants to leave behind a legacy of environmental improvement, including new smart growth policies to limit building in rural areas.

With the challenges facing American cities of tight budgets and lost revenues, Major Bing openly asks how to shrink the size of Detroit and makes an open call for plans, concepts, and strategies to save the failing city.

At a time when families across the country are facing fewer choices for fun, ambitious park projects like those in St. Louis, Detroit and Houston are "bringing urban centers back to life," according to JoAnn Greco.

Across the U.S., proposals for new mosques (such as for one in Murfreesboro, Tennessee) are meeting with hostile opposition, leading to worries over an ugly shift in public perception of Muslims.

Portland has them. So does Charlotte. But in the nation's capital, streetcar overhead wires are under fire from historic preservationists.

Maryland's 1997 landmark smart growth, hailed as one of the most innovative policies in the nation, has turned out to have failed in what it hoped to accomplish - preserve open space and cluster urban growth, according to a just-released report.

With Adolfo Carrion Jr. appointed as a "cities czar" and federal stimulus dollars flowing to urban sustainability projects, the Obama Administration aims to concentrate development to boost "environmentally and economically viable neighborhoods."

The city of Washington, D.C. learns its police checkpoints aimed at reducing crime in hot spots are unconstitutional.

Quoting Daniel Burnham, Obama announced that America should "make no little plans" as he affirmed his administration's commitment to building high-speed rail across the nation. Ten corridors were highlighted.

The $8 billion in stimulus funds allocated to high speed rail marks a turning point in a road-airport dominated U.S. transportation network, but the politics of allocating the funds may prevent results needed to showcase HSR.

Public art installations around New Delhi highlights the challenges of preserving India's heritage amidst development. 'We ask people to think about constructing a modern city and the accompanying extinction and loss,' says artist Ravi Agrawal.

The Washington Post has uncovered that the $6 billion, 25 yr. old program to clean up pollution in the Chesapeake Bay has produced little-to-no results -- and the EPA greatly exaggerated their progress.

A local leader in the suburban Maryland/Washington DC area proposes aggressive use of "rapid buses" in dedicated lanes to accommodate growth, like other jurisdictions in the U.S.

The Washington Post reviews Le Corbusier: A Life, a new biography by Nicholas Fox Weber, and finds it a messy book that nonetheless makes clear his "monomaniacal, narcissistic and pugilistic temperament."

President-elect Barack Obama is set to overturn as many as 200 Bush-era decisions, including those aimed at addressing greenhouse gas emissions and recognizing climate change.

Metro and 30 other transit agencies across the country may have to pay billions of dollars to large banks as years-old financing deals unravel, potentially hurting service for millions of bus and train riders, transit officials said yesterday.

John McCain was one of two dozen senators to vote last week against a bill that included $1.5 billion to fund D.C. transit.