Community / Economic Development

Legalizing Street Vending: Lessons from Los Angeles
With new regulations poised to add 400 new vendors to New York City's streets every year for the next decade, city leaders can look to L.A.'s recent legalization efforts for guidance.

Supportive Housing Bridging Venice Canals Granted Planning Commission Approval in L.A.
The mixed-use Reese Davidson Community will include 140 housing units, commercial space, and a performance space.

Miami Residents Resist the Idea of a 20-Foot Seawall
As climate change accelerates sea level rise and flooding in South Florida, locals hope to mitigate the impacts with less dramatic interventions.

Coronavirus Litigation: Can Employers Require Employee Vaccinations?
The plaintiffs in one of the nation's first court cases over employer-required COVID vaccinations are among the heroes of the pandemic—nurses fighting to remain unvaccinated. Houston Methodist Hospital suspended unvaccinated employees on June 6.

How Some Main Street Businesses Survived the Pandemic
Despite the economic blow dealt by last year's lockdowns, business districts in smaller cities like Wilkes-Barre managed to weather the crisis.

An Experiment in Civic Activism Aims to Transform Planning
A pioneering architect in Newcastle, U.K. tries to open planning to the people with a new "urban room" for community engagement.

Nantucket Residents Pass on More Stringent Regulation of Short-Term Rentals
A recent Nantucket Town Meeting resolved a long-simmering controversy regarding short-term rentals.

Columnist: New York City Needs Economic Recovery Strategies Other Than Gentrification
It's a tale of two cities as New York starts to emerge from the pandemic.

The Future of Downtowns Still Hangs in the Balance
Center City in Philadelphia offers a case study for one of the largest and potentially most consequential contingencies of the pandemic: What happens to downtowns is most workers never come back to the office?

Opinion: Transit Needs to Be Better, Not Cheaper
With many U.S. transit agencies facing severe gaps in service and budget shortfalls, some advocates argue that improved service matters more than free fares.

How Legacy Cities Can Support Equitable Development
A new report outlines seven strategies for balancing economic development and equity specifically aimed at smaller, post-industrial cities.

California Workplaces to Return to Normal? Not Unless Everyone is Vaccinated
Most coronavirus restrictions are set to end on June 15 in California. The statewide mask mandate will align with CDC guidance, but workplaces will follow the new Cal/OSHA mask mandate: Unless everyone is vaccinated indoors, everyone masks.

L.A. Metro Denounces—but Doesn't Scrap—710 Freeway Expansion Plan
The agency's board members spoke out forcefully against air pollution and displacement, but stopped short of completely rejecting the project, looking instead to cleaner vehicles and regulations that mitigate community concerns.

Proposed Rail Project Would Bring Trains from L.A. to Coachella Valley
Riverside County's transportation commission is moving forward with a proposal to bring passenger rail from Los Angeles to Indio.

How Zoning Discrimination Still Affects Canadian Cities
Policies that encouraged urban segregation and led to the displacement and disenfranchisement of communities of color continue to reverberate in Canada's urban centers.

Biden Learning From the Unrealistic Expectations of Past Economic Stimulus Efforts
Taking lessons from his time working in the Obama administration, President Biden is tempering promises of quick job creation with long-term reinvestment.

Can L.A. Metro Fund its Fareless Transit Pilot?
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors has approved a program that would eliminate fares for students and low-income riders, but the program's future rests on finding sustainable funding sources.

Planning a New Downtown in a Small Georgia Town
At a recent town hall meeting in Loganville, Georgia, local residents and stakeholders proposed ways to revitalize the city's downtown and build improved amenities for the city's residents.

Better Public Spaces for Teenage Girls
A growing design movement seeks to provide parks and playgrounds that meet the unique needs of teen girls.

American Jobs to Build Electric Vehicles Excludes Miners
Mining jobs needed to produce the metals for processing into battery parts used to build electric vehicles in America will not be developed in the U.S. but in Australia, Brazil and Canada, mainly to avoid battles with environmentalists.
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Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
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New York City School Construction Authority
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City of Grandview
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
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