As 'Americans leave older urban centers for smaller, more manageable, less expensive areas with a high quality of life,' mid-sized cities, such as Omaha, NE, are taking on ambitious redevelopment efforts.
Near future plans for downtown Omaha include: a $300 million convention center and arena; a $100 million performing arts center; and the "doubling of housing units downtown." The sheer scale of Omaha's recent development "has drawn attention from Midwest neighbors such as Kansas City, Mo., and Des Moines, which are eyeing Omaha's resurgence with a mixture of envy and admiration....Like other conservative Midwest cities, Omaha had a 'we're a nice place to live, why fix what's not broken?' attitude toward change until about a decade ago. Then, city leaders looked around and realized downtown was losing businesses and had seen better times....While other cities between the coasts such as Denver had thrown themselves into reviving their downtowns and were competing aggressively for business, Omaha was playing it safe, afraid to take risks."
Thanks to Connie Chung
FULL STORY: Omaha sheds stodgy image in making over downtown
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
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Texas Legislature’s Surprising Pro-Housing Swing
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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.
Borough of Carlisle
Smith Gee Studio
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)