As thousands of visiting Super Bowl fans converge on downtown Detroit, city officials are going to great lenghts to cover up the city's blight.
Critics "say much of this busy urban landscape is simply a façade designed to fool the more than 100,000 visitors who are expected to come here and generate an estimated $300 million in revenues in celebration of Sunday's kickoff at Ford Field.
Painted murals of football scenes cover the street-level entrances of one building, camouflaging a burned-out doorway of an abandoned structure... Along Woodward Avenue, visitors and locals can gaze at dozens of new window displays. But less than a third of the buildings have tenants. Ornate architectural renderings and balloon-colored shutters that hang as art cover up forgotten lobbies and empty shops.
...Since Detroit landed its bid with the NFL in 2000 to host the Super Bowl, city officials have been focused on one goal â€" putting a new face on the city's blight... For decades, city officials have been banking on Detroit's downtown area to help turn around one of America's most troubled urban hubs, which has been scarred by riots, crime and the flight of both its upper and middle-classes."
FULL STORY: A Still-Struggling Detroit Puts on Its Game Face

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the New Design Thinking
Creativity has long been key to great urban design. What if we see AI as our new creative partner?

Cal Fire Chatbot Fails to Answer Basic Questions
An AI chatbot designed to provide information about wildfires can’t answer questions about evacuation orders, among other problems.

What Happens if Trump Kills Section 8?
The Trump admin aims to slash federal rental aid by nearly half and shift distribution to states. Experts warn this could spike homelessness and destabilize communities nationwide.

Sean Duffy Targets Rainbow Crosswalks in Road Safety Efforts
Despite evidence that colorful crosswalks actually improve intersection safety — and the lack of almost any crosswalks at all on the nation’s most dangerous arterial roads — U.S. Transportation Secretary Duffy is calling on states to remove them.
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.
Appalachian Highlands Housing Partners
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie