Community / Economic Development
The New Trend in Highways: Capping Them
Blair Kamin uses Columbus, Ohio's retail development on the Cap at Union Station as a success story. What can Chicago learn from this design strategy that at once addresses economic development and the enrichment of the cityscape?
Struggling Centers Revitalized With New Tenants
With the increasing popularity of online shopping, many shopping centers are losing retailers left and right. More unusual tenants are filling in the gaps, like gun ranges and bounce houses.
Supporting One Appalachian City, Grassroots Thinking and Creativity
Natalia Echeverri profiles Asheville, NC, a town that that has transformed itself into a grassroots-oriented, local creative hub. One highlight? A recycled "design-build" studio constructed in 10 weeks.
For Biking to Flourish, Empower the Community Boards
Tom Angotti believes that community participation and neighborhood-level planning are key to a wider network of bike infrastructure in New York City.
Bane of the Middle Class: Rising Gas Prices
In this Washington Post blog, Brad Plumer writes on a New American Foundation report on rising gas prices and their disproportionate impact on the poor and middle class. Public policies intended to reduce fuel consumption, however, benefit the rich.
Despair and Hope in Occupied Rust Belt Cities
As part of an "Occupy America" tour, Arun Gupta visits Occupy protests in three rust belt cities, and finds that the economic forces that unleashed the global recession long ago stripped these cities of their economic and social fabric.
Executives Told To "Pack Suitcases" For Libyan Infrastructure Boom
Tripoli Airport and Misrata hospital are the first specific projects to be named, as western governments begin to release frozen assets to the National Transition Government (NTI) and international corporations spot an opportunity.
The Second Coming of Marked-Down Detroit
The 2010 Census reveals that Detroit's population is approaching the 1910's level. Of the City's 714,000 residents, 83% are black and nearly 40% live in poverty. With virtually every statistic going against its favor, can Motown make a comeback?
Improving The Gentrification Process
Kaid Benfield argues that continues revitalization of inner city neighborhoods is essential to achieving an equitable civil society, sustainable patterns of growth and maintaining a tax base to fund civic improvements.
Housing Crisis Making Americans Ill
A new survey from the American Journal of Public Health found that people who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments are more likely to be suffering from depression.
New Jersey Governor Wants to Kill Smart Growth in the State
An overhaul of the New Jersey State Plan proposed by the Governor's office would eliminate the State Plan Policy Map, which designated growth areas and conservation in the state.
"Creating Places for People"
That's the title of a draft report from the Australian Dept. of Infrastructure and Transport presenting model processes for creating high-quality urban environments.
In Seattle, Feelings are Mixed on Extra Perks for "Ultra-Green" Building Standards
Under the "living building" pilot program, a handful of developments get to bypass the usual zoning for sticking to some of the most stringent building standards in the world. But one developer wants an additional 10 feet of height for it.
Can a Canadian Company Condemn Your Land?
TransCanada is trying to use eminent domain to obtain easements from unwilling landowners for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
The Megarich 1% Live in New York
Well, a good percentage of them do, with 13% of the country's 57,860 ultra high net worth individuals living in NYC.
Portrait of a Neighborhood Razed by Robert Moses
Filmmaker Jim Epstein read "The Power Broker", the biography of Robert Moses, and set out to document one of the communities destroyed by Moses' urban renewal of the 1950s.
The "People's Library" Boosts the Occupy Wall Street Movement
As the Occupy Wall Street movement grows, it is developing into a "mini society" complete with its own forms of community and institutions, including a public library.
Developers in Downtown, Cleveland are Turning to the Slots to Appeal to a New Crowd
Executives of Rock Gaming LLC and its partner, Caesars Entertainment Corp, are hoping to revitalize Cleveland's downtown nightlife and create connections with nearby businesses by building Horseshoe Casino Cleveland.
The Challenge of City Branding
Branding a city, writes Scott Doyon, isn't as easy as creating a product brand. Cities already have identities, so a new brand can ring false if it isn't in harmony with reality. Case in point: Dunwoody, Georgia.
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
