Community / Economic Development
A Decade of Growth, But Then the Bust
Nevada was the fastest growing state in the nation over the last ten years, but amid that growth has been a severe economic downturn.
Olympic Village Blasted for Missing Affordable Housing Targets
Housing activists in Vancouver are criticizing the city for only offering a small portion of the Olympic Village built for the 2010 Winter Olympics as affordable housing.
Cities Take Business Approach to Planning
Cities around the world are applying business-style techniques to planning and encouraging economic development.
Turning "Redfields" Into Urban Parks
Jonathan Lerner gives an extensive analysis of the benefits of turning failed commercial properties, or "redfields", into strategically-picked park land for revitalization purposes. Some conversion would be permanent, some just land banking.
Rural Poverty Rising
Poverty is high and rising in rural areas across America. But there are also significant differences in the extent of that poverty, depending on the region.
Hardly a Celebration
With a recent murder, a shootout-turned-suicide, and a high rate of foreclosure, the reality of Celebration, Florida, is less ideal than appearances would suggest.
Considering Bankruptcy in Michigan
The tiny city of Hamtramck, Michigan, is edging closer to bankruptcy, as budget woes grow.
Small-Scale Development in Detroit
Reviving a city like Detroit requires small steps, writes Roberta Brandes Gratz, who looks at block-level projects in the city.
New Governor Moves Into Mixed-Use
California's Governor-elect Jerry Brown will be living part-time in the first modern mixed use project in Sacramento. Jerry's new neighborhood has a WalkScore of 95 and is walkable to the Capitol building.
Book Review: Makeshift Metropolis
In this highly readable volume, Witold Rybczynski makes a fresh argument for rethinking the field of planning. Lynn Vande Stouwe has this review of one of our selections for the Top 10 Urban Planning Books for 2011.
LaHood's Pitch To Florida: Go Forward With HSR
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wrote a major address to the nation in support of high speed rail that appeared in Florida's Orlando Sentinel. Streetsblog notes the significance of that paper in light of events in Wisconsin and Ohio.
Retail Outlook Improving, Fewer Stores Closing
And more stores are opening, according to Retail Traffic Magazine. An estimated 35,000 new stores are predicted to open in 2011, while closings will likely be less than last year.
Christmas Downtown is Saved
Downtown Elizabethtown, North Carolina is in the middle of a huge redevelopment project, and customers were avoiding the mess causing a blue Christmas for shopowners. City Hall stepped in and put a hold on revitalization, and Santa is back in town.
Niagara Falls, New York: The Epitome of Bad Urban Planning
An extensive piece in Bloomsburg BusinessWeek uncovers the bad ideas and worse decisions that led to the downfall of Niagara Falls, New York. Step one? Replacing the historic downtown with "a bunch of modernist follies."
Mapping Demographic Change in the West
High Country News offers a look at the Western U.S., based on recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau, using a mapping tool from The New York Times.
Big Boxes Going Urban
Big box retailers are continuing to target urban markets, and finding new ways to squeeze their large sizes into dense urban settings.
How Cities Can Survive Rising Temperatures
Temperatures are warming all over the planet. The new book "Climatopolis" looks at what cities can do to survive.
Israel's Urban Outlier
Capitalism and bourgeois values built the city of Tel Aviv, which stands today as an outlier in Israel, according to this article.
Status Quo Sprawl Lives On in Fresno
The approval of a massive shopping center in Fresno, California, highlights the city's inability to move beyond its sprawl-centric tendencies, according to this piece from The Fresno Bee.
Shrinking Cities Means Shuttered Churches
The Archdiocese of Detroit is working with city planners and local demographers as they develop their plans for Catholic parish closures.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
