Housing

Incentives for Energy Efficiency Expanding

The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Administration are looking to increase energy efficiency incentives for homeowners, including opportunities for larger home loans.

July 28, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

Housing Supply Down in Vegas, For Now

The supply of housing in Las Vegas is at a three-year low, a fact many attribute to prospectors buying up low-priced foreclosures in recent months.

July 27, 2009 - The Las Vegas Sun

The Resilient and the Rest

This piece from Forbes looks at which cities will recover fastest from the recession -- and which ones won't.

July 26, 2009 - Forbes

Listed Properties Mapped by Google

Google Maps now feature visual displays of homes and properties that are listed for sale.

July 25, 2009 - San Francisco Chronicle

Poticha Appointed to HUD Position

Shelley Poticha, President and CEO of Reconnecting America and past executive director of the Congress for New Urbanism, has been appointed Senior Advisor for Sustainable Housing and Communities at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

July 24, 2009 - Reconnecting America

A Look at Housing Prices in the Recession

These two posts from Richard Florida look at how housing is faring during the economic recession. He looks at home prices in 300 metro areas, and how things have changed between the peak in 2006 to today.

July 24, 2009 - Creative Class Exchange

Eco-Suburbs, Not Just Eco-Towns

As the U.K. experiments with building environmentally-friendly "eco-towns", Peter Hetherington of The Guardian argues that they should also be greening up Britain's vast suburbs.

July 23, 2009 - The Guardian U.K.

Don't Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor?

New studies rank cities based on the extent to which they "criminalize homelessness."

July 20, 2009 - NPR

Dealing With Vacant Mansions in London

In a posh borough of London, empty homes are causing problems for officials, who are tasked with finding the owners of these vacant or abandoned mansions.

July 17, 2009 - The Wall Street Journal

New Eco-Town Plans Meet NIMBY Resistance

The UK government recently announced the sites of four new planned "eco-towns". But local opposition to the projects remains high.

July 16, 2009 - The Christian Science Monitor

LA the "Meanest City"?

A new report on how cities criminalize the practices used by homeless people to get by on a daily basis names Los Angeles as the country's "meanest city" for its "Safer City Initiative."

July 16, 2009 - CommonDreams

The Bust of Williamsburg

Sales in Brooklyn are down, and that's made a ghost town out of the recently booming but now busted Williamsburg neighborhood.

July 15, 2009 - New York Magazine

Vancouver Requires Electric Car Inclusionary Zoning

The city of Vancouver is going to begin requiring that a certain amount of electric car charging stations be included in all new residential developments.

July 14, 2009 - CBC

New York Begins Converting Stalled Projects to Affordable Housing

The City of New York has unveiled its Housing Asset Renewal Program, a plan to revive stalled projects as affordable housing.

July 14, 2009 - The Architect's Newspaper

Cities Creating Land Banks to Deal with Vacant Properties

Abandoned and foreclosed properties are plaguing many cities. Now some are trying to turn the blight into prosperity by creating land banks to hold, remodel or demolish the properties -- and pull in some revenue while they're at it.

July 13, 2009 - USA Today

The Mud House Boom and Bust

The housing boom has busted in a tiny village in the West African country of Guinea, where homebuilders had constructed rows of new mud houses in hopes of cashing in on the rising demand for housing and its rising costs. Now, they sit empty.

July 10, 2009 - The Wall Street Journal

Homelessness is On the Rise in Rural and Suburban Areas

Homelessness has jumped in the nation's suburban areas, according to a study from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Of those in U.S. shelters, 32% are in rural or suburban areas.

July 9, 2009 - USA Today

A Bird’s-Eye View of the Foreclosure Crisis

As part of an art exhibition about housing, artist Damon Rich used the Panorama of the City of New York- a 9,000 sq. ft. model- to illustrate the foreclosure crisis.

July 8, 2009 - The New York Times

Post-Katrina, A Neighborhood Changes

The Lakeview neighborhood of New Orleans was deluged in the post-Katrina flooding. Today, a new community emerges with traditional renovations living side-by side with unique contemporary buildings.

July 8, 2009 - The Times-Picayune

A Little Too Tough on Blight?

The City of Chula Vista has a highly successful anti-blight ordinance- so successful that some critics say they may actually be delaying the recovery of the local real estate market.

July 8, 2009 - San Diego Union-Tribune

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.

Transportation Planner I

KFH Group Inc.

Director, Strategy and Research

Greater Baltimore Committee

Senior Planner

Eagle County Government

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.