Housing

Cities Adjusted to Attract the Elderly

America is aging. 'By 2030, nearly 1 in 5 Americans will be 65 or older.' This aging population has significant clout. Nearly one third of the population is over 50, and they control half the country's discretionary spending.

July 23, 2010 - The Infrastructurist

Agricultural Urbanism in Illinois

This piece from Grist looks at Prairie Crossing, a planned community in Illinois that integrates agriculture into its village-like setting.

July 23, 2010 - Grist

Good Capitalists and the Meltdown

Suburbia has brainwashed Americans into being good capitalists, which brought about the economic crisis, according to neo-Marxist economic geographer David Harvey.

July 22, 2010 - Fast Company

Protecting The Open Spaces of Cascadia

Forest land and open space have been steadily gobbled up by development in the Pacific Northwest. A new initiative in Washington seeks to relocate some of developers' planned greenfield housing into cities.

July 21, 2010 - Citiwire

Sustainable and Obtainable

A new sustainable housing development breaking ground in Oregon has put affordability on the same pedestal as sustainability.

July 21, 2010 - The Oregonian

Cities Shrinking to Survive

"More cities in the developed world shrank than grew in the last three decades. More than 40 of those cities were in the United States, according to City Mayors, an urban affairs think tank," writes Gordon Young.

July 18, 2010 - Slate Magazine

South Korea's City of The Future

Being developed on 1500 acres of Incheon's waterfront, Songdo is a completely planned city harnessing the latest innovations in green technology and planning doctrine aimed at creating a sustainable, self contained 'city of the future.'

July 16, 2010 - ABC News

Brownfield Approved For Huge, Controversial Mixed-Use Redevelopment

By an 8-3 vote at 1:35 AM, July 14, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a plan to add 10,500 homes (32% affordable) on a 720-acre brownfield site known as Hunters Point, a former shipyard, including 320 acres of parkland and open space.

July 14, 2010 - San Francisco Chronicle

Air Conditioning and Community

A new book looks at the environmental, energy, and social consequences of keeping cool by using air conditioners. In this 4-minute public radio interview, author Stan Cox explains how to keep cool, just in time for the East Coast heat wave.

July 14, 2010 - American Public Media: Marketplace

Walking's Role in Home Buying Decisions

How walkable neighborhoods are is playing an increasingly important role in decisions about where to buy homes.

July 13, 2010 - The Wall Street Journal

Mixed Use Outperforms Big Box Development

Tax revenue-per-acre figures for big box developments are only slightly higher than residential developments, and not as high as mixed use project, according to this column from Mary Newsom.

July 13, 2010 - Citiwire

Small Cities Fill CNN's 'Best Places to Live'

Apparently metropolises are out- CNN Money's annual list of the "Best Places to Live" is filled with small cities like Eden Prairie, Minnesota and Overland Park, Kansas.

July 12, 2010 - CNN Money

New Development: Always a Good Sign?

Dan Rodricks has been reading a lot of "good news" about new residential building permits being taken out around Baltimore, and questions whether new development is always a good sign.

July 12, 2010 - The Baltimore Sun

Foreclosure Rate Highest Among Wealthy

What's not known is how many of the homes are investments, or primary or secondary residences, but it's clear that the foreclosure rate for mortgages exceeding $1million is higher than for lower priced homes, according to the New York Times analysis.

July 11, 2010 - The New York Times - Economy

Obama Announces New Urban Policy to Shelter 1.6 Million Homeless

A total of 1.6 million people experienced homelessness last year alone. President Obama has decided to attempt to remedy this sobering fact with the new Interagency Council on Homelessness' (USICH) "Opening Doors" plan.

July 9, 2010 - The Daily Caller

Calculating the Decision: House or Apartment?

The New York Times calculates the cost difference between living in a single family house versus an apartment in the New York area.

July 8, 2010 - The New York Times

Shanghai's Faux World Cities Fail to Catch On

A decade after its inception, Shanghai's One City, Nine Towns project, an ambitious attempt to manage the city's massive population growth via the creation of international-themed satellite communities, has failed to deliver hoped-for results.

July 7, 2010 - Assembly

Villaraigosa Must Back His New Planner With Comprehensive Reorganization

Mayor Villaraigosa must appoint a planning director who will overcome the sprawling bureaucracy that has hindered much of the LA's endeavors, says the Los Angeles Times.

July 7, 2010 - Los Angeles Times

Questions of Relocation in Rio's Unstable Favelas

Mudslides and unstable housing are common in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro where officials are trying to get people to relocate to safer areas.

July 7, 2010 - BBC

Kotkin Takes Aim at Urbanists

Naming Richard Florida, Carol Coletta and ULI as pro-urban forces, Joel Kotkin accuses them of having "wishful thinking" in regards to the back-to-the-city movement. Kotkin says people want single-family homes, not condos.

July 6, 2010 - The Wall St. Journal

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.