Housing
A 'Soft Landing' In Southern California?
The median home price in the six-county Southern California region rose a modest nine percent during the last 12 months, compared to the muscular 26 percent climb on a year-over-year basis at the market's peak in Spring 2004.
Cataloguing The Catalog Homes
Preservationists, historians, and amateur urban sleuths are scouring U.S. neighborhoods to identify and protect as many of the 70,000 to 100,000 "kit" homes made by Sears, Roebuck and Company as possible.
Los Angeles Okays 1-Year Ban on Loft Conversions
Los Angeles City Council hopes to slow gentrification of downtown by approving a moratorium on conversion or demolition of low-cost hotels.
Norman Castle Invades Atlanta Neighborhood As McMansion Moratorium Ends
In Buckhead, a 6,000 square foot Norman-style house dwarfs its 2,700 square foot neighbors, while the City Council's Zoning Committee defeats the moratorium on "McMansions".
Got Plans For 2056? Announcing The 50-Year Mortgage
In the face of skyrocketing house prices, some lenders are offering unprecedented 50-year mortgages.
Should More Development Cost 'Mama' Her Home?
A developer wants to raze the old Buckingham Village apartments in Arlington County, to replace them with pricey new townhomes. Should "neighborhood guardian" Lillian Veney and her dog, who have lived in the complex for 12 years, be forced out?
'Aging-In-Place': A Growing Trend In Elderly-Assistance Models
Bucking a decades-old trend of steering the elderly toward nursing homes to live out their sunset years, many communities are developing programs to assist older residents who want to remain in their own houses.
The Least Affordable Places To Live In The U.S.
California wins the dubious distinction of being home to 11 of the least affordable locales. Why has the state trumped other hotspots like New York and Florida?
Tents For The Homeless Spring Up Throughout Paris
Doctors of the World began providing the city's homeless with the temporary shelter, and now the trend is picking up steam.
Redefining Affordable Living In London
American architects Munkenbeck and Marshall redefine affordable and shared-ownership living in London with what looks like a super-luxury development.
Friday Funny: Devolving American Housing Preferences, Or, Life In A Mall
First came tract housing, then gated communities. Now Americans are shelling out big bucks for places that "seamlessly fuse life with commerce, eliminate the line separating home and shop, individual and commodity." Yes, life in a glorified mall.
Intown Housing Boom Adds To Permit Delays In Atlanta
Long the bane of developers and individual homebuilders alike, the Atlanta Bureau of Buildings now averages 40 to 80 days to provide building permits. Meanwhile, in suburban Gwinnett and Cobb Counties, the turnaround time is under one hour.
Displacement And Discrimination: The Politics Of Re-Housing New Orleans' Poor
Despite a Senate report that recommended FEMA be dismantled and replaced, the troubled agency is still "holding the purse strings" on recovery in New Orleans, and tens of thousands of residents may be cut off from rental assistance monies next month.
Bringing New Urbanism To New Orleans
To fund a week-long charrette with over 40 architects, planners, and engineers, New Urbanism founder Andres Duany chipped in $150,000 of his own money. As a result, one neighborhood is much further along in the planning process than its counterparts.
Landlords Get Tough In New York's Condo Conversions
Weakened rent stabilization laws help landlords evict market-rate tenants. In Manhattan, more than 7,000 apartments are slated for conversion.
Homeless Find Good Design For $7 A Night
How one non-profit design competition led to the creation of temporary housing for the homeless using a simple formula: asking future residents what they wanted.
Plenty Of Sun, But Not Affordable Housing, In Key West
The average home price has nearly tripled in the past five years, leaving little room for low-income workers serving the wealthy.
A Housing Alternative To Living In Quezon City's 7-Story Garbage Dump
Bryan Finoki tackles the spatial and socio-economic problems of shantytowns, focusing on recent tragedies in the Philippines. (Includes photos.)
Housing Market Swings In Miami
Housing prices have begun to fall as condo supply continues to grow in Miami.
New Lofts Far From 'Run-Of-The-Mill'
Live-work space succeeds in an Easthampton (Western Massachusetts) mill, with plans for a high-tech gay and lesbian retirement community in a second mill nearby.
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.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
