Community / Economic Development

Toronto Mid-Rise

Zillow: Suburbs Becoming More Like Cities

According to the real estate website, urban home values are growing faster than those in the suburbs, bucking a longtime trend. This isn't exactly surprising, but it has serious social justice implications.

February 17, 2016 - Puget Sound Business Journal

Presidio San Francisco

Problems With Economic Impact Analysis: Examples From Base Communities

Guest blogger Joshua Drucker discusses his new research critiquing current practices in economic impact analysis.

February 17, 2016 - JPER

Thriving from the Center: Freeing Urban Innovation from Ideology

Today's civic challenges are not unique in their need for balanced, accountable, and equitable solutions, requiring a combination of mindful reforms with sincere hope for more egalitarian prosperity.

February 17, 2016 - Thriving Cities Blog

Boston Seaport

GE and Industry's Return to the City

GE recently made the blockbuster decision to move its corporate headquarters to Boston. More than just another example of a company returning to an urban area, the move shows how a city like Boston benefits the kind of company GE wants to become.

February 16, 2016 - Rod Stevens

Food Truck

New Study Looks at the Mystery and Benefits of Food Truck Movements

The seemingly non-complex decisions on where food trucks park is examined in a new study that finds there's actually a lot more to it than just an empty curb.

February 16, 2016 - CityLab

Oil Rigs

North Dakota's Oil Boom Falters

As oil prices dip to around $30 a barrel, fears are setting in that North Dakota's oil fields have been overdeveloped. If the current boom goes bust, these towns might find themselves nearly empty.

February 15, 2016 - New York Times

Hackney Empire

How the Built Environment Shapes Music

From Motown to grunge, techno to hip hop, modern music came to life in garages, living rooms, churches, and warehouses. Urban design has been instrumental to what we listen to every day.

February 15, 2016 - The Guardian Cities

Los Angeles Passes Sweeping Homeless Plans—Funding Still Needed

The easy part for politicians at both the city and the county of Los Angeles is over. Funding their plans to improve services for the homeless will be the hard part.

February 12, 2016 - Los Angeles Times

Land Trusts Holding Ground for Affordable Housing in Pittsburgh

Community land trusts are facing an uphill battle as waves of gentrification reach new neighborhoods around Pittsburgh.

February 11, 2016 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

5 Ways to Improve Life in Homeless Encampments

As cities struggle to deal with the persistent challenges of homelessness, one writer suggest there's a better way to address the problem than by simply clearing out homeless encampments and tent cities.

February 11, 2016 - Crosscut

Fortunately, Unfortunately: A Children's Primer on Urban Evolution

Scott Doyon rewrote a classic children's book as a history of US cities since World War II. Fortunately, it's a quick read. Unfortunately, it's up to all of us how it ends.

February 10, 2016 - PlaceShakers

Des Moines

Reinventing Des Moines

Fairly or unfairly, Des Moines has a solid reputation as one of the nation's least interesting cities. But unbeknownst to the rest of us, this quiet working town might become the Midwest's answer to Austin, Texas.

February 10, 2016 - Politico

Portland Food Carts

Food Carts Could Make Way for High Rises in Portland

Several big stories, all rolled into one, are emerging in Portland. Changes in zoning have paved the way for high-rises that are proposed for the existing location of the city's famous food stalls.

February 9, 2016 - The Oregonian

Obama Budget Includes $11 Billion for Homeless Families

Among the wish list of spending priorities included in the Obama Administration's draft federal budget—$11 billion in funding to address family homelessness.

February 9, 2016 - The New York Times

Urban Fringe the New Frontier in China's New Urbanism

The Chinese government wants an influx of nearly 100 million new urban residents by 2020. In order to accommodate a migration of this nature, China's urban planners are tasked with creating cities to be more livable.

February 5, 2016 - CityLab

This Valentine's Day, Celebrate Neighborhood Revitalization With #LoveThatLot

The #LoveThatLot campaign is the Center for Community progress' way of celebrating the hard work of transforming vacant, blighted properties into neighborhood assets and amenities.

February 4, 2016 - Center for Community Progress

One Simple Way to Anger Pedestrians: Give Snow Removal Priority to Cars

A large backlash followed a large winter storm on the East Coast.

February 4, 2016 - Brokelyn

San Francisco Homeless

Homeless Are No Longer 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind' in Booming Cities

One of the sad contradictions of the revival of core urban areas has been the clash between waves of investment and affluence with large populations of homelessness. Many cities are still coming to terms with the issue, much less solving it.

February 3, 2016 - The Wall Street Journal

Demolition

Heady Market in Chicago's North Side Drives Teardowns

Lakeview, located north of Lincoln Park and adjacent to Lake Michigan, leads the city by a wide margin in residential teardowns over the past five years. Local developers are selling new homes for four times the original price paid.

February 3, 2016 - Crain's Chicago Business

Little Free Library

Op-Ed: Sharing Cities We Can Trust

Duncan McLaren and Julian Agyeman launch a withering critique of the sharing economy as we know it, and envision "sharing cities" built around technologies that put community before commerce.

February 3, 2016 - The Boston Globe

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.

Transportation Planner I

KFH Group Inc.

Director, Strategy and Research

Greater Baltimore Committee

Senior Planner

Eagle County Government

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.