Rio Rancho, a suburb of Albuquerque, is changing sleepy suburb into an urban center that could one day rival Albuquerque in size. This in-depth, multi-part series focuses on the town's potential and growing pains.
"From a sports arena to new businesses to subdivisions, this booming city says it's poised for greatness. But is it?
...Paradise for next to nothing down beckoned from brochures in the '60s. But what looked woodsy, lush, on paper was just a tumbleweed-slapped nowhere. Yet they came. And still do... Today, this suburban Shangri-La is just a few subdivisions away from becoming the third-largest city in New Mexico, behind Albuquerque and Las Cruces. In a few years, its borders are expected to span a massive 300 to 400 square miles - nearly twice the geographic size of Albuquerque and Las Cruces combined.
...Rio Rancho has gotten good at growing rapidly. But some worry it has yet to grow a culture, infrastructure, soul. The wide expanse of nothingness is too much something, too much everything."
Read the full story: Rio Rancho: City on the Edge
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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
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello