Community / Economic Development

Luxury Developments Moving into the Sunset Strip; Porn and Clubs, Moving Out.

The 1.6 mile stretch of Sunset Boulevard in the city West Hollywood is destined for more than $600 million in developments planned or already being built, mostly composed of luxury hotels and condominiums.

August 6, 2014 - Bloomberg

NashvilleNext

How a Bunch of Nosepickers are Helping Nashville Plan for its Future

Booming development and shifting demographics are driving updates to Music City’s land use policies. Civic leaders and planners say they want residents to steer the process, which has meant getting people’s attention in some unlikely ways.

August 6, 2014 - Colby Sledge

San Antonio Christmas

Why 'Place' Is the New American Dream

The new American Dream will transform cities and towns in the 21st Century. To understand it, we have to grasp a few features of the previous American Dream.

August 5, 2014 - Better Cities & Towns

Oakland skyline and San Francisco Bay

Time to Look at Oakland

While Oakland is by no means an easy place to develop real estate, the often maligned East Bay city of over 400,000 residents may very well be the Bay Area’s best place to embrace much-needed development.

August 4, 2014 - Reuben Duarte

San Francisco's Anti-Displacement Movement: Progressives Against Progress?

The tech industry's push into San Francisco has entailed a fight for political and cultural legitimacy as well as social justice--one that shakes up conventional wisdom about conservatism, progressivism, and progress itself.

August 2, 2014 - The Nation

'Urban Acupuncture' Prescribed for Los Angeles' Streets

Pulling from Jaime Lerner's famed expression of 'Urban Acupuncture,' Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has chosen 15 major thoroughfares to transform into hubs of neighborhood activity as a part of the Great Streets initiative.

August 2, 2014 - Los Angeles Times

Growing Concentrations of Poverty in American Suburbs

Updating the initial "Re-Emergence of Concentrated Poverty" Brookings report, Elizabeth Kneebone shows where concentrations of poverty have taken root during the Great Recession and subsequently slow recovery period.

August 1, 2014 - Brookings Institution

Jobs-Rich Cities: Three Potential Frontiers of Economic Development

Unemployment still looms above 2007 levels, and is coupled with the lowest labor force participation in 30 years. Arthur Burris outlines what kinds of strategies cities can adopt to help their local economies.

August 1, 2014 - Living Cities

Boxing Gyms in Shrinking Cities: Refuge for the Formerly Incarcerated

Sociologist Lucia Trimbur describes how urban boxing gyms provide an opportunity for a particularly vulnerable population, formerly incarcerated men of color, to "recover from detention and establish stability in the free world."

July 31, 2014 - Urban Omnibus

University of Chicago

The University and The City: Location and Structure

Institutional structure and culture can matter as much as location to the success and survival of urban universities.

July 31, 2014 - Dean Saitta

Real Estate Woes Hemorrhaging Wealth from the Middle Class

An article on the Washington Post Wonkblog shows how deeply the real estate crash impacted the wealth of the Middle Class—now on the tail end of three lost decades.

July 30, 2014 - The Washington Post - Wonkblog

First Net-Zero Energy Apartments Planned in South Sacramento

Housing 120 units, the first net-zero energy transit-oriented development complex in South Sacramento will feature a rooftop farm and resident-run onsite bicycle repair.

July 30, 2014 - Sacramento Bee

Add GE's Relocation to Cincinnati's Urban Renaissance

General Electric has a strong regional presence in the Cincinnati area, but none of its 10 facilities are located downtown. That is about to change thanks to Cincinnati's urban revival making it an attractive place for the company's younger workers.

July 30, 2014 - The Wall Street Journal

Graduation Ceremony

The Future of Higher Education: Location, Location, Location

Despite the improving economy, the outlook for the higher education sector is still poor, especially between the endowment haves and have-nots. Another factor playing a critical role in the success or failure of institutions: their location.

July 29, 2014 - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Glenwood Green Acres, Philadelphia

Are We There Yet? Affordability in the 'New Normal'

In the new normal, an affordable lifestyle is suddenly of interest to a larger circle of us. Here's what some interesting innovators are doing about it, between now and when our politics and legal structure fully align with our needs.

July 28, 2014 - PlaceShakers

New from the U.S. Department of Agriculture: $10 Billion Rural Investment Fund

As pension funds and institutional investors, faced with low interest rates, are searching for non-traditional investments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will play matchmaker for a new $10 billion rural investment fund.

July 27, 2014 - New York Times

Competition Addresses the Design Challenges of Placemaking in Rural Communities

In its annual competitive funding effort, the Citizens' Institute on Rural Design (CIRD) has selected four small towns and rural communities to host a two-and-a-half day rural design technical workshop.

July 27, 2014 - Citizens' Institute on Rural Design

Can Kentucky Compete in an Urbanizing, Global Economy?

Braden Lammers provides a dispatch from the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Business Summit and Annual Meeting, sharing the testimony of one business leader on the state's work force challenges.

July 25, 2014 - Louisville Business First

'Pop-Up Beer Gardens' Hack Pennsylvania's Alcohol License Restrictions

Some restaurants have found ways to circumvent the expense of liquor licenses in Philadelphia by opening pop-up beer gardens operating under a much, much cheaper catering permit. Cue state legislation to curb the practice.

July 24, 2014 - PlanPhilly

World's Largest Carbon Capture and Storage Project Breaks Ground in Texas

Construction began July 16 on the Petra Nova project, 27 miles from Houston. President Obama and many climate experts are banking on CCS to mitigate carbon emissions from the world's largest source of carbon emissions: coal burning power plants.

July 22, 2014 - Reuters

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

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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.