Community / Economic Development

What should planners take away from last week's barrage of polls about Americans' attitudes?

June 19, 2012 - PlaceShakers

The Project for Public Spaces has compiled a "how-to" list for re-claiming your community's public spaces.

June 19, 2012 - Project For Public Spaces

For a city known for its storied history, but whose burgeoning creative culture has gone less noticed, a recent branding campaign was charged with the challenge of merging both identities.

June 18, 2012 - Fast Company

In town for New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, Zak Stone reports on New Orleans' attempts to repopulate the city with the creative class.

June 16, 2012 - Good

You've likely heard of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s plans to revitalize downtown Las Vegas in advance of his company's relocation there. Whitney Pastorek profiles one young entrepreneur that's already making a difference in the neighborhood.

June 15, 2012 - Fast Company Co.Exist

Connecting existing assets and social networks with very little additional monetary investment can generate returns in lean times, writes Hazel Borys.

June 15, 2012 - PlaceShakers

A recent study concludes that investment in wildlife refuges leads to economic rewards.

June 15, 2012 - THE DIRT

"Currently in its greatest period of park expansion since the 1930s," New York City has shown a remarkable commitment to expanding its open spaces, but finding the resources to maintain them is another issue entirely, explains Caitlin Blanchfield.

June 15, 2012 - The Architect's Newspaper

In rapidly modernizing, and urbanizing, India, young professionals find themselves cut off from their neighbors and small town traditions in fortress-like gated communities. The Internet is providing a platform for them to re-establish community.

June 14, 2012 - The Washington Post

Dr. Ralf Brand and Dr. Sara Fregonese have studied how culturally ignorant design has intensified violence in areas of religious and ethnic division, while more sensitive plans have peacefully brought people from different backgrounds together.

June 14, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

With Los Angeles embarking on the "largest transit expansion in the United States," a new report looks at ways the city can preserve critical affordable housing in areas ripe for transit-oriented economic development.

June 13, 2012 - Better! Cities & Towns

Bank of America is one of a handful of major banks to pump money into green initiatives, where they see an opportunity for new capital and a chance to improve their images.

June 13, 2012 - The New York Times

2,200 cities, counties and arts orgs applied to ArtPlace to fund their creative placemaking projects in 2012. 47 projects, ranging from an arts campus in rural Sitka, Alaska to a series of "aerial nets" along a Philadelphia waterfront, made the cut.

June 12, 2012 - ArtPlace

Two assistant professors from the University of Chicago and BYU have found that the addition of a Wal-Mart store in a neighborhood can raise the value of homes within a mile of the store, reports Mary Ellen Podmolik.

June 12, 2012 - Chicago Tribune

Aaron M. Renn looks at Chicago's struggles over the last decade - one that saw the city "increasingly falling behind its large urban brethren" - and asks whether its aspirations for becoming a global city are delusional.

June 11, 2012 - City Journal

The waning popularity of its transportation system and the lack of attention to its lower-income population has put Curitiba’s “reputation as an urban planning model” on the line.

June 9, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Scattered-site rental management is something nonprofits have long found to be a challenge. But there are ways of pulling it off, and those who have done it tell Shelterforce how, and why it’s worth it.

June 9, 2012 - Shelterforce Magazine

With "guys in suits" having replaced the "artists, weirdos and blue-collar families" that surrounded Adam Davidson while growing up in the Village in the 1970s, he wonders if mom-and-pop shops can survive the neighborhood's extreme gentrification.

June 8, 2012 - The New York Times

The high cost of driving in Los Angeles has led some residents to swap their cars for bikes, buses, and the subway. This change has inadvertently allowed them to find freedom in their lives and a better connection with the City of Angels.

June 8, 2012 - Good Cities

Twitter’s move into San Francisco this month is part of a new trend of tech companies setting up in the city, causing rents to skyrocket, and forcing lower-income residents out.

June 7, 2012 - The New York Times