Housing

Walkable DC

A Collection of Benefits for 'Walkable, Compact, Diverse' Neighborhoods

A meta-analysis published in Housing Policy Debate finds that extensive studies in recent years support positive claims about walkable neighborhoods.

August 16, 2014 - Better Cities & Towns

Suburbia

What is a 'House'? Critiquing the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey

Demographia's International Housing Affordability Surveys are widely used to compare cities and evaluate urban development policies, but there are good reasons to question their analysis methods, starting with their definition of "house."

August 15, 2014 - Todd Litman

Activists Advocate for Community Land Trusts

“We were drawn to CLTs not just as a technical model, but because they provide the opportunity for residents—including renters—to actually have control over their homes and communities,” says Tony Romano, the Right to the City's organizing director.

August 14, 2014 - Shelterforce/Rooflines

Debate Continued: Supply vs Demand

Jim Russell is again taking to the pulpit to dissent from the popular view that supply problems are causing housing affordability crises in cities like New York and San Francisco.

August 14, 2014 - Pacific Standard

Unbundling Parking Costs to Keep Families in Cities

Cities tend to attract Millennials, but as the saying goes, when they get older and start families, off they go to the suburbs! Seattle developer and author A-P Hurd promotes parking unbundling as a key strategy enabling families to remain in cities.

August 11, 2014 - CityLab

Multi-Generational Housing not only for Oldest Adults, Also Young Adults.

The Great Recession spiked the amount of young adults (aged 25-34) living in multi-generational housing, which has now surpassed the share of oldest adults (age 85+) living in these types of household structures.

August 8, 2014 - Pew Research Center

New Applications for 3D Printing: Sanitation and Shelter

Called by some the "third industrial revolution," what are some of the opportunities and costs of applying 3D printing to issues facing the developing world, and more importantly, emergency housing?

August 6, 2014 - The Guardian

Housing Crunch Comes to Appalachia

Housing shortages are news in San Francisco and North Dakota, even if for different reasons. But parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania are facing the tough policy questions from their own, less documented fracking boom.

August 5, 2014 - The Washington Post - Wonkblog

San Antonio Christmas

Why 'Place' Is the New American Dream

The new American Dream will transform cities and towns in the 21st Century. To understand it, we have to grasp a few features of the previous American Dream.

August 5, 2014 - Better Cities & Towns

Downtown Oklahoma City

The Fastest Growing Cities are Affordable Cities

Although Americans are moving less, many of those that have migrated recently have decamped to inland cities where they can afford the cost of housing, according to an article by Shaila Dewan.

August 4, 2014 - New York Times

Oakland skyline and San Francisco Bay

Time to Look at Oakland

While Oakland is by no means an easy place to develop real estate, the often maligned East Bay city of over 400,000 residents may very well be the Bay Area’s best place to embrace much-needed development.

August 4, 2014 - Reuben Duarte

DC Nightlife

Surveying the Most Affordable Stomping Grounds for Millennials

Everyone knows a Millennial-friendly neighborhood when they see one, but which places are most friendly to the wallets of Millennials?

August 3, 2014 - RealtyTrac

Growing Concentrations of Poverty in American Suburbs

Updating the initial "Re-Emergence of Concentrated Poverty" Brookings report, Elizabeth Kneebone shows where concentrations of poverty have taken root during the Great Recession and subsequently slow recovery period.

August 1, 2014 - Brookings Institution

Real Estate Woes Hemorrhaging Wealth from the Middle Class

An article on the Washington Post Wonkblog shows how deeply the real estate crash impacted the wealth of the Middle Class—now on the tail end of three lost decades.

July 30, 2014 - The Washington Post - Wonkblog

Architects Design Fix For New York's Retro Parking Requirements

The "9x18" design team (named after the dimensions of a standard parking space) has evaluated and reimagined New York's parking regulations so they reflect actual parking demand and support affordable housing goals.

July 30, 2014 - Architizer

Glenwood Green Acres, Philadelphia

Are We There Yet? Affordability in the 'New Normal'

In the new normal, an affordable lifestyle is suddenly of interest to a larger circle of us. Here's what some interesting innovators are doing about it, between now and when our politics and legal structure fully align with our needs.

July 28, 2014 - PlaceShakers

Baltimore's Code Enforcement Has Teeth with 'Vacants to Value' Initiative

Baltimore is increasing lawsuits against negligent property owners with outstanding code violations. As part of the city's "Vacants to Value" initiative, forfeited properties are transferred to receivership and auctioned to new owners.

July 24, 2014 - The Baltimore Sub

Anti homeless bench

Cities Criminalizing Homelessness Amid Urban Boom

More cities—many of them "revitalizing" their urban cores at the same time as a national recession and a real estate market beset by diminishing supplies of low-income housing—are criminalizing homelessness.

July 23, 2014 - PBS NewsHour - The Rundown

Where Smaller is More Marketable

Unlike the message of an annoying commercial, bigger may not be better in the real estate market. Residential developers in Washington D.C. have found that millennials like small studios, or micro-units, provided the spaces are well designed.

July 23, 2014 - The Washington Post

Poor Door

Discrimination at Home: Luxury Development with 'Poor Door' Approved in NYC

Extell Development Company made news last summer by proposing a luxury development with a separate entrance for below-market-rate units. Now that the project is fully approved, New York councilmembers might expand anti-discrimination policies.

July 23, 2014 - Think Progress

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.

Senior Manager Operations, Urban Planning

New York City School Construction Authority

Building Inspector

Village of Glen Ellyn

Manager of Model Development

Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.