Should the social virtues of urbanism and new investment in cities get washed out in the hue and cry over gentrification?
"With urban living regaining popularity, reinvestment has spread to some of the smaller markets, as has the concern about displacement or gentrification.
...The social virtues of urbanism and the cost-benefit discussion of new investment in cities tend to get washed out in the hue and cry over "gentrification" when some local activists, CDCs and armchair liberals assume the heroic mantle of protectors of the poor. While their outrage at urban developers is no doubt self-gratifying, it presents the existing residents of urban neighborhoods a very distorted picture of the costs and benefits of potential redevelopment."
John Norquist is President of the Congress for the New Urbanism, which holds its annual Congress in Pasadena from June 9-12
Thanks to Chris Steins
Read the full story: Is Gentrification Really A Threat?
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Seattle passes record-breaking transit services expansion
Proposition 1 will double the city’s transit tax to add 95,000 more bus trips and preserve 180,000 bus trips annually.
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.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority