United States

Jacobs' ideas about urban planning bumped her to the top of her Top Urban Thinkers list, but economists are turning to her other books to rethink local economies.

What does Main Street America look like today? A journalist, a public radio producer, and two Harvard PhD students set out to visit actual Main Streets across the country to find out.

"Cash for Clunkers" was upside-down and wrong-headed, rewarding bad behavior rather than punishing it, says Libertarian Richard A. Epstein.

American cities are struggling to figure out how to transition formerly industrial areas to become vibrant and successful parts of the city once again. Neal Peirce says they should look to Barcelona, which accomplished it ten years ago.

PG&E CEO Peter Darbee says that it wouldn't take very many all-electric cars to create a serious drain on local power generators.

The problems facing urban America can be exemplified by looking at the city of Las Vegas, according to this piece from the Brookings Institution's Mark Muro.

The federal government has dedicated $8 billion to high speed rail projects. But with $50 billion worth of proposals, the challenge lies in how best to divide the funds.

A Stanford professor and a UC Davis researcher say we could make the switch to 100% renewable energy by 2030... if we really want to.

The New York Times Automobiles Section discusses the growing population of Americans living car-free.

Bicycle commuting increased 43% in the U.S. from 2000 to 2008. And as commuters get used to having their trusty bike to get around, more business travelers are taking their ride with them.

Cohousing, which is cooperatively-managed but independently-owned housing, is gaining popularity in the Northwest. A new cohousing project in Portland just opened its doors last weekend.

The New York Times examines a handful of places in the US embracing zero-waste policies, how they're doing it, and what challenges lie ahead.

Global corporations like Frito Lay and Barnes and Noble are attempting to co-opt the word 'local' into their branding.

A new report shows a dramatic trend in homelessness: increasing numbers of former homeowners left with nowhere to live after foreclosure are turning to homeless shelters.

That's Lynden Miller's motto, an artist and garden designer with a new book, Parks, Plants, and People: Beautifying the Urban Landscape. The Wall St. Journal has a profile.

With a recent documentary, Julius Shulman is back in the spotlight. But the uncritical view of Shulman's legacy leaves a lot out, says Christopher Hawthorne.

The White House is pushing for more solar power projects nationwide, but environmental concerns are stalling the progress of plans to build solar projects in the California desert.

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau reveals that the first year of the recession has taken a harsh toll and that these impacts are being particularly felt in three key regions in the country.

The commercial real estate crash is coming and isn't pretty, but ULI senior fellow Stephen Blank and others say it won't be nearly as bad as the collapse of the residential housing market.