Massachusetts

How grassroots organizers beat out commercial bidders, and overcame zoning hurdles to redevelop Catholic church into affordable housing.

Train writer Christian Wolmar argues that the best application for high speed rail funds would be to upgrade the Washington D.C. to Boston, 150 mph Acela line to true, high speed rail status and used as a showcase for American rail technology.

Columnist Jeanne Haffner goes hands-on to learn how graphic representation is used in the day-to-day work of planning.

Lowell, Mass. has one of the largest populations of Cambodian immigrants in the country. City officials want to create a "Little Cambodia" neighborhood to capitalize on that strength without exploiting it.

The town of Holyoke, Massachusetts has hired Cisco to create a technology-led urban revitalization plan.

The winner of the SHIFTboston Ideas Competition is a proposal to turn the unused Tremont Street Subway tunnel under Boston Common into a network of underground cultural venues.

That's what a consultant told Robert L. Hubbard, city director of planning and community development of Gardner, Massachussetts, about the city's infrastructure. Gardner intends to build on those bones with an urban renewal plan.

This video from The Boston Globe takes a look into the world below the city's subway system.

After lobbying from two Native American tribes, the Nantucket Sound has been made eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, creating a possible further delay of a proposed wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod.

Robert Campbell argues that Boston's planned expansion of the convention center should be mixed-use and urban in nature.

The Northeast corridor has effectively been shut out from receiving any federal high speed rail stimulus dollars due to tight environmental review policies.

After halting construction on a science center in Allston months ago, Harvard has announced that the project will be postponed for the foreseeable future.

Massachusetts has made home energy generation more attractive by allowing individuals to sell excess energy back to utility companies.

Boston's Big Dig was supposed to result in a series of glorious, connected public spaces. Two years after the project's completion, the state is finally making the connections a reality.

The New England Economic partnership warns that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's optimism about green jobs may be unrealistic.

It is now official: the new Massachusetts Department of Transportation will be the singular transportation and transit agency for the entire state. With the swearing in of its five-member board, the agency can begin its work.

Planner and author Jeff Speck pays a visit to Lowell, Massachusetts, and tells an audience to tear down their civic center. "If you don't tear it down now, it will become protected in 10 years," says Speck. "Tear it down now."

Derided by some, praised by others, Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) is gaining ground, with new systems scheduled to open in London, Abu Dhabi, and South Korea.

The Bixi bicycle sharing system in Montreal will be replicated in Boston and London, according to Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay.