Housing
To Save Water, Developers Ditch Lawns
Developers of Sterling Ranch, a proposed master-planned community in Colorado, want its future residents to curb their water use. One way they're ensuring this is by nixing traditional, lush lawns from their plans.
Halfway Towards Ending Homelessness in Portland
Portland, Oregon is half-way through its ten-year plan to address homelessness. The city's seen improvements, but many challenges lie ahead, according to this report.
Study Shows Shelter Reduces Costs
A four-year study by United Way of Greater Los Angeles has shown that stable housing provides benefits to taxpayers as well as the homeless.
2010 Census Faces Foreclosure Challenges
The high amount of foreclosures is expected to make things tougher for Census officials as they prepare for 2010 Census enumeration.
There's No Place Like Home
Joel Kotkin sees a trend in a 'New Localism'- people aren't moving around like they used to, and it's causing them to reengage with their communities.
How to Make Housing Affordable
Avi Friedman has some ideas of how to make housing more affordable. He says that the focus is too much on the mortgage and subsidies side and not enough on lower building costs.
'Zombie Subdivisions' Eating America's Suburbs
Thousands of subdivisions across the country have been abandoned mid-development by owners and developers hit hard by the economic recession. This video takes a tour inside one of these "zombie subdivisions".
Anti-Graffiti Coating To Be Required on L.A. Buildings
The Los Angeles City Council has unanimously approved a measure that will require an anti-graffiti coating on all new buildings in the city.
The Curse of Pruitt-Igoe
Rumor had it that the site of the infamous Pruitt-Igoe projects remains empty because the foundations are impossible to demolish. Turns out that the problem is politics, not pilings.
Time for HUD to Rethink Rental
HUD needs to rethink its emphasis on home ownership and refocus on rentals, argues John Kromer of the Fels Institute of Government.
Condo Conundrum
Like many other cities, there are condos a-plenty in Seattle. Developers are trying almost anything to get them sold. But the majority remain empty, leaving developers scratching their heads about what to do.
Habitat For Humanity Sees Gold In Vacant Housing
Used to pouring resources into building new homes, Habitat for Humanity sees opportunity in the vast number of vacancies caused by the mortgage crisis.
The People Under the Strip
A community of hundreds of people live beneath the glitz of the Las Vegas Strip in flood control tunnels.
Show Me the Mortgage!
Homeowners threatened with foreclosure are increasingly finding that a simple legal tactic is stalling the process.
Morocco Seeks to Supplant Slums
In an effort to replace slums with low-cost housing, Morocco is paying developers to create thousands of new apartments. Some slum residents see it as a boon, others say they couldn't afford the rent, even if it were subsidized.
Westchester, NY Struggles with Desegregation, Federal Government
Westchester's County Legislature left its Monday meeting with no decision made on how it would move forward with a settlement requiring it to build affordable housing with the goal of desegregation. Or go to trial.
Andrés Duany Calls For Revamping Public Process
Among other issues tackled by the noted New Urbanist during a recent speech, Duany said that the current form of public engagement is broken because it engages only the immediate neighbors.
DC Goes NU
New Urban News looks at the growing influence of New Urbanists and their ideas in Washington, from the appointment of former CNU director Shelley Poticha to a HUD position to the new Livable Communities Act proposed by Sen. Christopher Dodd.
Bank Executive Blasted for Beachfront Foreclosure Parties
A Wells Fargo executive involved in foreclosures has reportedly been using a foreclosed Malibu, California, estate for personal parties on the weekends.
Affordable Housing Built From Trash
Dan Phillips' company Phoenix Commotion builds homes from discarded materials for low-income individuals in Huntsville, Alabama.
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
