Community / Economic Development
Will Digital Divide in Kansas City Exacerbate its Historic Racial Divide?
The competition to determine which communities in Kansas City will qualify to receive Google Fiber, the nation's fastest internet service, has stoked fears of increasing the city's historic patterns of segregation, reports John Eligon.
Will Visions of a Vegas on the Manzanares Materialize?
Late last week, billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson announced that Madrid had won the competition to become the future location of Europe's "largest gambling mecca," reports Giles Tremlett. Questions regarding the project's viability remain.
Facing the Hard Facts of Economic Development
Can community building deliver more jobs than trying to lure back an industrial sector that's been leaving the U.S. for decades?
Buffalo Dusts Itself Off
After years wasted trying to implement large-scale redevelopment of its formerly industrial waterfront, Buffalo is cleaning up its shores from the ground up, reports Daniel Robison.
Skepticism, Economics, and Regulations Choking Development in Minneapolis
Stringent zoning, high costs, and a culture of skepticism directed at developers have hampered efforts to introduce infill redevelopment into some of Minneapolis' most prime locations.
New Tool Seeks to Measure the Benefits of Urbanization
A new city prosperity index has been unveiled by UN-Habitat at this week's World Urban Forum. The index seeks to catalog the ways in which global urbanization can encourage shared prosperity and human development, reports Claire Provost.
Are Efforts to Improve the Livability of China's Cities Hurting the Country's Economy?
As China continues to mature into a developed nation, efforts aimed at making its largest cities more environmentally sustainable and healthy may be putting a damper on the country's economic growth.
In D.C., Crime Prevention Starts at the Drafting Table
What's a better way to ensure lower crime than to involve police directly in the planning process? One development in Washington, D.C. will do just that.
Housing Mobility Provides a Prescription for Healthy Living
Moving families from segregated, high poverty neighborhoods, into desegregated "areas of opportunity" has multiple effects. Housing mobility programs help revitalize communities and improve the physical and mental health of families involved.
We Built This: Keeping Score of America's Stadium Spending Spree
To the tune of at least $4 billion in tax exemptions, America's taxpayers have collectively subsidized the construction of sports venues across the country, for the benefit of sports owners' bottom line. Are we getting our money's worth?
DC Planning Director Harriet Tregoning on Smartly Bridging the Anacostia River
DC Planning Director Harriet Tregoning discusses plans to create a pedestrian-oriented space out of the 11th Street Bridge as part of a larger goal of uniting DC around the Anacostia River, making it an amenity and not a barrier.
Creative Placemaking Gets Infusion of New Funding
Creative placemaking, or investing in arts and culture as a way to improve quality of place and stimulate vibrancy, is getting a new boost as ArtPlace announces another round of funding.
Creative Class Cannibalization
Richey Piiparinen discusses the "Frankenstein effects" of place-making, in which, he argues, the diversity of people and place that attracts the creative class is eventually forced out by those in search of the "highest and best use."
Agency, Developer Wrestle Over Atlantic Yards Affordability
A look at negotiations between developer Forest City Ratner and New York City's Housing and Development Corporation around the Atlantic Yards project shows that there will be less housing units set-aside for low-income families than promised.
Harvesting Data Essential for Saving Urban Gardens
To preserve the spread of urban gardening, activists are beginning to map and document the many haphazard community gardens to gain recognition from landlords and city officials in hopes of warding off bulldozers.
America's Largest Cities Gamble on Casino-led Growth
An expanding number of cities across the U.S. are looking to attract urban casinos, with the hope that further development and money (tax revenues to fill drained city coffers) will follow.
New Development Seeks to Reclaim Sydney's Position as a Global City
Lew Sichelman reports on the lofty goals being pursued by a new $6.2 billion live/play/work development known as Barangaroo - planned for a 54-acre site in East Darling Harbor - which aims to redefine Sydney.
Dense Re-Vision for D.C.'s Neglected Waterfront Extends onto the Water
A 52-acre development planned for Washington, D.C.'s isolated Southwest Quadrant hopes to create a 21st century waterfront by embracing the elements that have contributed to creating lively urban waterfronts for centuries, reports Kriston Capps.
Political Squabbling Trumps Demands for a New London Airport
Where are the projected 400 million air travelers coming to London supposed to land? Prime Minister David Cameron is caught between two politically difficult choices for how to manage the projected growth in passengers.
Sewer Shortage Pits Developers Against Residents on Long Island
Plans to develop eastern Long Island as a thriving tech hub with "bustling downtowns and new apartments for young families" are facing a messy obstacle, the absence of "a basic element of a modern civilization: sewers."
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.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
