Housing
The "Monumental Folly" of California City
Created by Nathan Mendelsohn, California City is the state's thrid largest in size but exists mostly in his imagination. Home to 14000 people who inhabit one end of the massive tract, just a corner next to over 185 square miles of empty development.
Tens of Thousands Face Heat, Violence for Chance at Public Housing Waiting List
For days, Atlanta area residents desperate for public housing assistance gathered outdoors in a parking lot in the hope of being placed on a waiting list [Video].
Hopeful Progress in Brazil's Slums
Redeveloping the slums of Rio de Janeiro has been on the city's agenda for decades. Despite the many challenges, some new efforts seem to be paying off.
A Chinese Bubble to Burst
Some economists are warning that China's building boom is actually a bubble that is soon to burst.
Downturn Helps Downtown L.A. Avoid Gentrification
The crash of the economy happened at the right time for gentrifying downtown Los Angeles, according to this piece from the Los Angeles Times.
The "Instant Cities" of Industrial China
This year China will add 17 million people to its urban population. To house them, places like Guangzhou and Shanghai are constructing 'instant cities.' Christoph Gielen traveled through these developments, documenting the expansion.
Resale Value No Longer the Key Factor in Homebuying
Alison Arieff asks, "At what point did the house become more about the future tenant than the current resident?"
Urban Lifestyle Preference On The Rise
Using the 15-year-old transformation of Rockville, MD's mall-centered downtown to a mixed-use town square as an example, the real estate industry sees the suburban-to-urban lifestyle change spreading across much of the country.
San Francisco Parking Battle Shows Limits Of Smart Planning
Neighbors are in uproar over a 71-unit affordable housing project planned on a bus-turnaround in a residential area of San Francisco because it provides only 7 parking spaces. Is smart growth planning getting ahead of itself by becoming top-down?
McMansions Go Section 8
The bust of the housing market has put a fleet of atypically nice homes into the Section 8 subsidized housing pool.
From Baseball Star To Affordable Housing Rehabilitator
Former major league baseball player Maurice Vaughn has made a new new career of buying, then rehabilitating public housing projects. The Times describes Mo's life and transformation as well as that of his six-year-old company, Omni New York LLC.
Seattle Could Ban New Houseboats
The city has hundreds of houseboats on its waterways, but new shoreline regulations could prohibit any new houseboats.
Zoning Reform Makes Room For More Low-Income Housing
In Lewiston, Maine, planners are reforming old zoning laws governing "boarding houses", an old-fashioned term that refers to lodging where meals are provided. By allowing "lodging houses" instead in those zones, more affordable housing can exist.
Underwater Homeowners Taking New Gambles on Real Estate
The Wall St. Journal reports that some homeowners are selling their underwater homes at a loss and turning right around and investing in new homes with lower mortgage rates and getting more house in the process.
From Housing Developer to Landlord
Homebuilders in recession-struck Bakersfield, California, have turned into landlords, renting their units while they wait for the housing market to rebound.
The Suburban Cycle of Life
Adam Meyer describes his parents' and grandparents' experiences growing up in the San Gabriel valley of east Los Angeles and charts the changes that have taken place since they first moved there in the 1950s.
Rapid Growth Puts Pressure on Planners in Cairo
"Officials argue that the main problem with Cairo is not that it is too big, but that three-quarters of its inhabitants are concentrated in a 20km radius from the center," reports Heba Saleh
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.
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.
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.
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
