Community / Economic Development
Testing Grounds
Housing development, architecture and community building have found a new learning lab in the lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
LEED-ND Is Go
LEED for Neighborhood Design (LEED-ND) is approved to become a permanent certification program.
From Memories to Master Plans
Maine mill town asks citizens to record their memories at downtown "Heart Spots" as part of the master planning process.
42nd Street Light Rail?
Vision 42 has proposed closing NYC's 42nd Street to car traffic and adding light rail along its length. The Mayor isn't interested, but lots of others are.
Is Bright Right or Blight?
A proposal to create a new outdoor advertising district in San Francisco has some locals anticipating a retail revival, while others dread the possible billboard blight.
LaHood to Detroit: Don't Worry About High-Speed Rail
Speaking to the Detroit Economic Club recently, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood addressed high-speed rail, Detroit's bus crisis, and the economic future of the area.
Bypassing the Blockade: Risky Business
In order to cope with the Israeli blockade, millions of dollars have been invested in tunnels between Gaza and Egypt. Israel has bombed many of them. Now investors want their money back.
Economic Development or Poaching Business?
States across the US are stepping up their efforts to attract business from outside their borders. New Hampshire woos investors from its neighbors and the California-Nevada rivalry heats up.
Of Felonies, the First Amendment, and Franks
A successful small business in Chicago has ruffled some feathers in a neighborhood grappling with crime and poverty. Why? Because Felony Franks is too unsavory a name, even for a hot dog stand that employs ex-convicts.
El Paso to Walk the Walk
Citing a recent study that demonstrates higher home values in walkable neighborhoods, officials in El Paso say it's time to change the way their city grows.
There's No Place Like Home
Joel Kotkin sees a trend in a 'New Localism'- people aren't moving around like they used to, and it's causing them to reengage with their communities.
Philly Suburb Cities Feeling the Pinch
Townships surrounding Philadelphia have managed to survive the recession until now, but city coffers are now going into the red and cities are being forced to take action.
Mega-Regions Rule the World
Richard Florida notes that there are only 40 significant mega-regions that drive the global economy, and are poised for faster recovery from the economic slowdown.
Bank Lending Habits Hurting TOD
Transit oriented development is having a hard time taking hold in Salt Lake City. Some say the parking preferences of lenders are to blame.
Food Deserts in Los Angeles
A coalition of community groups in L.A. has banded together to address the lack of access to healthy food in sections of East and South Central Los Angeles.
Real Work to Begin on Rio's Olympic Plans
Rio de Janeiro has been named the host of the 2016 Summer Olympics. Now, the city has to start making its Olympic promises come true.
How to Make Housing Affordable
Avi Friedman has some ideas of how to make housing more affordable. He says that the focus is too much on the mortgage and subsidies side and not enough on lower building costs.
Keeping Manufacturing in NYC
This interview with Adam Friedman of the New York Industrial Retention Network, illuminates reasons for retaining manufacturing in NYC, such as sustainability and job creation.
Reclaiming Alleyways
Office workers in Seattle's Pioneer Square area are claiming their network of alleyways as social spaces.
Problem: New Orleans Floods. Solution: A Floating House?
Architect Thom Mayne and a team of UCLA architecture students have created the first floating house permitted in the U.S. as part of a mission to help flood-ravaged New Orleans.
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
