Failed investments and buildings with no tenants sit on the outskirts of Beijing and Shanghai.
The promise of fast rising home prices in China has attracted a lot of capital, but not all those investments have panned out: about a fifth of homes in urban areas have been bought and left vacant. "In recent decades, housing prices have risen nearly twice as fast as disposable income, according to Chen, who authored a report on the China’s housing boom in 2014 for the Federal Reserve Bank for St. Louis," Linda Poon reports for CityLab. Chinese investors hoping for high returns have continued to put money into this market. While some fear a bust, others don't see development slowing down as investors think the government will do what it can to avoid a crash.
FULL STORY: China’s Huge Number of Vacant Apartments Are Causing a Problem
Coronavirus Effects on the Global Transportation System
As the coronavirus continues to move across the globe, its effects on shared transportation modes and freight shipping are becoming more apparent.
Asian, Australian Property Markets Begin to Cool
Markets for residential property income of East Asia's most expensive cities are slowing down. The U.S.-China trade war is one factor, along with local controls and a mainland Chinese economy applying the brakes.
Population Limits Push Residents Out of Beijing and Shanghai
In top-tier Chinese cities like Shanghai and Beijing, new population caps have spurred the relocation of residents, many of them low-income, to smaller cities and the outskirts.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
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.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association