Housing
Camden Employers Incentivizing Middle-Class Homeownership
Last week, local officials announced that the troubled city's largest employers, including three hospitals and a university, will begin offering incentives to lure workers into buying homes in the area. Geoff Mulvihill reports.
A New Master-Planned City Would be Impossible, Says Donald Bren
At the Urban Land Institute conference this week, Donald Bren, Chairman of the Irvine Company, cites lack of capital and government and environmental regulation as reasons for this.
27-Story Vertical Forest Under Construction
The Milan apartment building will feature a tree on each balcony, at only 5% of the construction costs. Christopher Woodward takes us deeper into the project and others in the "living architecture" movement.
The Reality TV Approach to Public Participation
Urban planning professors from the University of Kansas suggest that televising community meetings and using techniques from reality TV could significantly increase participation.
Sustainable Homes of the Future at Solar Decathlon
In its 5th year, the Solar Decathlon had submissions from 20 different countries and from schools like SCI-Arc/Caltech's and Appalachian State University, writes Diana Budds for Dwell.
The "Stunning and Tragic" Remains of Pruitt-Igoe
The implosion of the Pruitt-Igoe housing projects is recognized as the moment when modernism died. Sam Jacob is taking university students to the site to observe what has become of the location.
DC Planning Office Seeks To Restrict Georgetown Enrollment
Washington DC's office of planning will begin restricting Georgetown's enrollment if the university does not manage to provide housing for 100% of its undergraduates by 2016.
Homelessness and the Occupy Wall Street Movement
The logistics involved in maintaining the Occupy Wall Street protests turn out to be some of the very activities that homeless people have been banned from doing in most cities for years.
The Second Coming of Marked-Down Detroit
The 2010 Census reveals that Detroit's population is approaching the 1910's level. Of the City's 714,000 residents, 83% are black and nearly 40% live in poverty. With virtually every statistic going against its favor, can Motown make a comeback?
Diverse, But Not Integrated
New York City may be diverse, but it is also one of the most segregated places in the country, and a rash of recent events involving civic employees reflects this. Until this is remedied, New Yorkers "won't have as much to brag about as we think."
In Northern Manhattan, Community Board Nixes High-Rise Apartments
Community board members, representing a traditionally Dominican neighborhood with six- to 10-story buildings, recently rejected one developer's plans for a mixed-income project of 800+ apartments, fearing gentrification and non-contextual development
Does Affordable Housing Have to Look Bad?
Allison Arieff explodes the unspoken myth that public housing must look cheap and unattractive, citing some stellar examples of affordable design.
Las Vegas Learns To Mow Its Own Lawn
Nevada has gone from having the lowest unemployment in the US in 2006 at 4% to the highest now at 13.4%. Once again Las Vegas is proving to be a reflection of the country's wider problems, where the top end of the market never dropped out.
Plan to Revitalize Public Housing Stymied by NYC Parking Requirements
New York City Housing Authority Chairman John Rhea says that the city's own parking minimums are making it difficult to make public housing sites more mixed-use, mixed-income and financially sustainable.
Richard Florida Examines Walkscore's Top Ten Cities
Richard Florida digests Walkscore's Walkability rankings, and discusses some surprising results. Among the top ten are Union City, New Jersey, and Miami, Florida.
Warning: I'm a Terrible Neighbor
A Colorado man has put up a sign warning potential buyers about activities that occur at his house.
Eleven of the Best Urban Design Ideas in the World
From a penthouse dwelling above an air-raid bunker to an "inside-out" building where plants grow on the walls through rainwater irrigation, Wendy Goodman and Justin Davidson have asked design experts to compile their favorite urban ideas.
From Sprawl to Complete Communities
Galina Tachieva's new Sprawl Repair Manual creates a narrative and visual process for making suburbs more sustainable. The book's first chapter is available now online.
Via Verde: Housing Project for All!
Via Verde is a rebirth to a area that has been suffering economically for decades. The planners chosen for this project are placing a great deal of importance on aesthetics and quality design, not seen in other projects.
85 New Homes to be Built on Redeveloped Land in San Francisco Bay Area.
The New Home Company intends to build 85 homes on land that has become "dilapidated and vandalized." The land has been target for a redevelopment process which is located in Marin County.
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.
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
Eagle County Government
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello