Community / Economic Development

After an extended history of favoring rural areas over metropolitan ones, The World Bank appears to be changing course.

January 3, 2010 - Citiwire.net

A group of historians and urban enthusiasts have developed a successful tourist organization that explores the underground structures and spaces of Berlin.

January 2, 2010 - The New York Times

Parks officials in San Francisco look to mimic New York City's approach to funding parks through public-private partnerships.

January 2, 2010 - San Francisco Chronicle

Sweetheart deals using public monies to fund stadiums have backfired across the country, causing more drain than gain.

January 1, 2010 - The New York Times

The Walled City of Kowloon, Hong Kong was demolished in 1993, but remains a symbol of what happens when a city evolves anarchically. It was known as 'Hak Nam', or 'City of Darkness.'

January 1, 2010 - Design Observer

December 31, 2009 - Nate Berg

This essay from Urban Omnibus calls for greater collaboration in urban design -- both amongst designers and architects, and with the surrounding community.

December 30, 2009 - Urban Omnibus

Agricultural investors are buying up abandoned and empty land in Detroit -- making a big wager on the future of the city as a farm town.

December 30, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

Closed car dealerships across the country are finding new life as yoga studios, classrooms, and day care centers.

December 29, 2009 - Gazette Times

Some say the nation's illegal immigrants are a missed opportunity that could help hurting regions to recover.

December 29, 2009 - Citiwire

Peer Smets (VU University Amsterdam) investigates the socio-cultural impacts of specific patterns of urban segregation (gated communities) on local urban politics and urban governance.

December 28, 2009 - The Urban Reinventors Online Urban Journal

For 21 years this urban St. Nick has been delighting visitors to the South Street Seaport in New York.

December 25, 2009 - The New York Times

A public-private partnership has come together to fund a 3.4-mile light rail line through Detroit's commercial district, and convinced the Feds to bend the rules a little to bring it to reality.

December 25, 2009 - the transport politic

Edward L. Glaeser uses the TV show Mad Men as a reflection on the vitality of cities as the center of idea-based industries like advertising and finance.

December 22, 2009 - The New York Times

Officials in Virginia have approved a special tax district to raise funding for the extension of the Washington D.C. Metro to Dulles International Airport.

December 22, 2009 - Washington Business Journal

Transit ridership has dipped in 2009, according to a new report from the American Public Transportation Association. The recession and high unemployment rates are being blamed.

December 21, 2009 - USA Today

Amidst sweeping new regulations, the Toronto City Council has also added a new tax on billboards that could bring in millions of dollars to city coffers.

December 21, 2009 - The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

A new study finds that while Arizona residents like where they live, they have low levels of civic engagement.

December 18, 2009 - The Arizona Republic

Architect Daniel Libeskind, designer of part of the new Las Vegas megaproject CityCenter, says now is the right time to be building big and bold projects.

December 17, 2009 - Der Spiegel

This piece from The New Republic looks at the "urban disaster" of Detroit and compares it to other cities that have come on tough times in the past. Cities like Belfast and Turin offer examples of how Detroit can come back from the dead.

December 17, 2009 - The New Republic