Housing

Caracas, The City that Built Itself

Utopian modernism turned on its head in Caracas, where residents have made fifty-year-old superblock housing projects into the locus of sprawling improvised settlements.

May 14, 2009 - Triple Canopy

New Suburb Plans Dropped Amid Market Downturn

Due to the downturn in the housing market, plans for a new development that would essentially become a 20,000-person suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area have been abandoned.

May 14, 2009 - San Jose Mercury News

FEMA Trailer Foreclosures

FEMA has sent eviction notices to thousands of people in emergency trailers in New Orleans. The temporary shelter was designed to house homeowners while their homes were repaired, but many remain unfinished.

May 10, 2009 - The New York Times

Washington, Stop Promoting Homeownership

Steven Malanga looks back at a century of efforts by Washington to promote homeownership, which he says 'has produced one calamity after another.'

May 8, 2009 - City Journal

The Emptiest Neighborhoods in America

A neighborhood in Buffalo, N.Y. is one of the emptiest in the U.S., according to a new analysis of the census from the Associated Press. About 1 out of every 3 homes is vacant.

May 6, 2009 - Newsday

London Mayor Calls for 'Living Bridge'

London Mayor Boris Johnson has revived old plans to build a new bridge across the Thames River, complete with habitable structures and shops.

May 6, 2009 - Evening Standard

In A Sign of the Times, Failed Development Demolished

A stalled housing development in a Los Angeles exurb meets the wrecking ball as completing the development became too unaffordable.

May 6, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

DOT and HUD, Together Again

DOT and HUD announce a joint effort to merge land use and planning to improve livability. CNU's John Norquist comments on the merger.

May 2, 2009 - New Urban News

Rebuilding as the "Town of the Future"

After Greensburg, Kansas was nearly flattened by a tornado in 2007, rebuilding the town has taken an environmentally conscious road.

April 30, 2009 - CNN

From Grimy to Green

Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has unveiled plans to turn an industrial parcel of land near downtown into "the global capital of clean technology."

April 29, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

Metro Seattle Struggling with Foreclosures

Foreclosures are skyrocketing in metropolitan Seattle, where some areas have seen figures triple as compared to recent years.

April 29, 2009 - The Seattle Times

Common Ground Found For New Urbanists and the Disabled

Disability-rights activists have criticized New Urbanists for raising entrances above ground level, which hampers accessibility. The 'Lifelong Communities' charrette in Atlanta found the two groups mending ways.

April 27, 2009 - New Urban News

Brutalist High-Rises Finding New Life in Toronto

Toronto is moving forward with a plan to re-vision it's aging concrete high-rises as sustainable, mixed-use centers of urban development.

April 27, 2009 - WorldChanging

Foreclosure Crisis Taking Toll on Public Health

Officials and advocates in Oakland California are warning that the foreclosure crisis is not only leading to evictions, but also growing public health problems and community blight.

April 26, 2009 - Mercury News

The Rise and Fall of an Arizona Exurb

This article from High Country News dissects the Arizona real estate collapse through the lens of one exurb.

April 26, 2009 - High Country News

Is the Canadian Housing Market in for a Shock?

Economists worry that Vancouver's tumbling housing market is an indication that Canadians could see a dramatic -- and long-lasting -- decline in the value of their homes.

April 25, 2009 - Macleans

Doing the Waterfront Right

Philadelphia's SugerHouse waterfront development could learn a thing or two from San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood, according to this piece.

April 24, 2009 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Americans Staying Put

New census data released Weds. shows that fewer Americans moved this year than in any year since they started keeping track back in 1947.

April 23, 2009 - The New York Times

Affordable Mortgage Plan a Flop, Says Frank

The Hope for Homeowners Act was designed to allow foreclosed homeowners to keep their homes by drawing up new and more affordable mortgages for qualified applicants. Barney Frank is one of many proclaiming it a failure.

April 22, 2009 - NPR

Getting Creative with Blight

Encouraging the creative class to rent and eventually own in foreclosed neighborhoods revives blighted neighborhoods, but the strategy isn't without controversy or setbacks.

April 22, 2009 - The Wall Street 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.

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.