Housing
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Literature Review: On the Importance of Affordable Housing for Families and Communities
A new report by Enterprise Community Partners provides a literature review of research about the effects of stable and affordable housing.
HUD Data Shows: 'Who Lives in Subsidized Housing?'
The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently released data about households receiving federal housing assistance. Lisa Sturtevant, writing for the National Housing Conference, provides an overview of the data.
Study Links Affordable Housing and Intellectual Ability in Children
Jonathan Walters shares news of a new study out of Johns Hopkins University finding a connection between affordable housing and the intellectual ability of children. Spend more, or less, than 30 percent on housing, and intellectual ability suffers.
Bill Would Require Affordable Housing in Sales of Public Land in Washington D.C.
"A DC Council committee voted…to require developers to include affordable housing any time they buy land from the city for residential development," reports Jenny Reed.
Economic Growth without the McMansions—Is America Ready?
Henry Grabar beckons the death of the McMansion, calling it an "American embarrassment" with no easy solution for planners.
New Research: Are Women Empowered by New Urbanism?
Charlotte Fagan and Dan Trudeau (Mcalester college) study two New Urbanist neighborhoods in Minneapolis to understand the ways in which New Urbanism impacts the empowerment of women.
The Structural Details of Brooklyn's New Modular High Rise
Modular construction is still in its infancy, but a building set for completion later this year at Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn is taking the building practice to new heights.
Fences Make Bad Neighbors in Hamden, Connecticut
The ugly story of the fence between a public housing community called New Haven and the nearby "middle class" community of Hamden, Connecticut will soon be over, but not because Hamden suddenly gained enlightenment.
Design, Engineering, and Construction Firms Hiring in New York Building Boom
Mark Fahey cites data from Crain's and the New York Building Congress showing that New York City's improving economy has percolated big numbers of hires through all levels of the building industry.
Pagination
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
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello