Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas

Inspired by the corporate sponsorship that made New York City's new bike share system possible, Steve Smith believes that public facilities across our cities are ripe for branding.

Yonah Freemark critiques a planned expansion to Dallas' already-extensive highway network, arguing that it undermines billions of dollars in light rail investment and sets its downtown on a path of stunted growth.

Stephen Lee Davis investigates a campaign by Baton Rouge community groups to revive its bus service as it teetered on the brink of collapse.

Nate Berg uncovers yet another study matching long commutes to poor health, from low fitness to high blood pressure.

Launched this week, Houston's first bike share program is seen as a significant step in helping to dispel "Houston's national reputation as an uncongenial, sprawling metropolis," reports Allan Turner.

Robin Pogrebin sheds light on a thorny conflict between a high-rise condo in Dallas, Texas and the museum it named itself after.

A survey tracking Houstonian opinions for three decades has found that the most striking change in the car-centric city is an embrace of an urban lifestyle led by support for more mass transit options and less reliance on cars, reports Jeannie Kever.

Texas has come under scrutiny for a pattern of developing low-income housing projects in areas already suffering from poverty and blight. Karisa King describes how the NIMBY mentality is reinforced by the subsidization system.

After decades of false starts, Downtown Oklahoma City is making room for alternative transportation with streetcars, electric vehicle charging stations, and a new bike sharing program, reports Steve Lackmeyer.

Roberta Brandes Gratz examines New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward to make the case that even neighborhoods past their prime are worth fighting for.

Claire Thompson profiles Neighborland, an online urban planning platform that aims to promote organic conversations that can build momentum and facilitate connections around improvement projects.

Accompanied by images of a partially demolished building, P.J. Lassek reports on Tulsa's conflict between encouraging development and providing parking amenities.

With mockumentary-style coverage, NPR's John Burnett imagines the trials of a state's secession.

Nathaniel Rich reports on a different kind of urban regeneration that has taken place in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward where the "cartoonish pace of vegetation growth" conceals an ecology of wild animals, tires, and occasionally humans.

Ariel Schwartz reports on NOLAbound, a week-long event meant to showcase the sustainable, entrepreneurial culture that has taken hold in New Orleans as it recovers from Hurricane Katrina.