Land Use

With a fleeing population, Youngstown, Ohio was ahead of the current trend on "shrinking cities." So what can planners learn from Youngstown's example?

January 13, 2011 - New Urban Network

RThe impact of cities is spreading beyond local and even national borders, argues Robert Neuwirth in this piece from What Matters.

January 13, 2011 - What Matters

While Planned Parenthood isn't even currently considering an office in Gardner, Mass., opponents of the nonprofit have petitioned the Planning Board to create zoning limitations that would exclude them from opening up shop.

January 12, 2011 - Telegram & Gazette

One of columnist Steve Berg's New Year's resolutions is to explain to how supporting urbanist ideas like using cars less and retrofitting suburbs come from sound principles and aren't based in elitism.

January 12, 2011 - The Minneapolis Post

The Record talks with June Williamson, co-author of the popular book "Retrofitting Suburbia", about the importance of preparing suburbs for a new and different future.

January 12, 2011 - The Record

Mayor Villaraigosa of L.A. and Mayor Chuck Reed of San Jose have both spoken publicly against Governor Jerry Brown's plan to eliminate all of the state's redevelopment agencies to save cash.

January 12, 2011 - Curbed LA

In this piece, Stewart Brand argues that squatter cities will grow greatly over the next few decades, and the world will be better because of it.

January 11, 2011 - What Matters

Toronto Star critic Christopher Hume predicts a lackluster 2011 for Toronto -- both in terms of architecture and urbanism.

January 11, 2011 - The Toronto Star

A study of tree cover and pregnant women suggests that women living in areas with more trees are less likely to give birth to undersized babies.

January 11, 2011 - The Oregonian

Planetizen's Nate Berg posits that Burning Man, the yearly freak festival in the Nevada desert, has become "a highly planned, intricately organized and fully functioning city" of 50,000 people.

January 10, 2011 - Places Journal

A new documentary promises to reveal the stories of the people who lived in the infamous Pruitt-Igoe housing complex. The filmmakers promise to "implode myths" about this symbol of failed urban renewal policy.

January 10, 2011 - pruitt-igoe.com

The state of Detroit is alarming, particularly in its continued dependence on cars, but there is hope that the city could reinvent itself as an ecological metropolis, says Jeffrey Kenworthy of the Curtin University of Technology.

January 10, 2011 - Jeff Kenworthy

China is building millions of housing units. But is the country building neighborhoods?

January 9, 2011 - The Wall Street Journal

Contracts have been signed on a tunnel project to replace the earthquake-damaged Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle. But opponents are still trying to stop the project.

January 9, 2011 - The Seattle Times

Officials in St. Louis are looking to update the county's zoning codes to allow denser housing, and a greater mix of land uses.

January 9, 2011 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A new video features urban explorer Steve Duncan as he adventures in the abandoned subway tunnels beneath New York City.

January 6, 2011 - Wired

New dedicated lanes and limited-stop buses have entered the transportation picture in New York City.

January 5, 2011 - The New York Times

Rick Harrison believes that city planning has turned into a faith-based series of architectural commandments that demonize the suburbs and cast out naysayers.

January 5, 2011 - New Geography

Harvard GSD graduate Ju-Hyun Kim thinks we should be building amusement parks as skyscrapers, cutting down on the costly commute to the outside of town.

January 5, 2011 - Fast Company

Blair Kamin reflects on the soon-to-be-ex-mayor Richard Daley's legacy, his "passion to build," and how Chicago might be shaped without his influence.

January 4, 2011 - The Chicago Tribune