Tim Halbur

LEED for Neighborhood Development, seen by many as a corrective to the green building rating system emphasizing sustainability at the neighborhood scale, is now official. Kaid Benfield was part of its creation, and has this report.

Converting front lawns into edible gardens is becoming popular, but some neighbors only see ugliness and worry about their property values. Are we entering the age of Not In My Front Yard (NIMFY)?

Wang Jun, author of two best-selling books on urban history and planning in China, became an advocate of historic preservation after watching Beijing's old city destroyed and rebuilt as skyscrapers.

In terms of smog, metropolitan Los Angeles is still the worst city in the United States. In fact, all 10 of the smoggiest counties are in California, according to an annual report from the American Lung Association.

The neighborhood is the basic building block of human society, and successful efforts to make the world a better place often start right there, says Jay Walljasper.