The areas hardest-hit by the subprime mortgage crisis are not just low-income and minority communities, but also outer-ring suburbs.
"In many metro areas, far-flung suburbs and exurbs face sharper price declines than neighborhoods closer to city centers.
It's no secret, for example, that Florida is among the states where property prices flew high and fell hard. But in Tampa's ZIP Code 33607, near downtown, the median home lost just 1.3 percent of its value last year, according to new research. ZIP Code 33573, in contrast, lies about 18 miles away and saw a 22 percent price decline.
The housing bust is also falling heavily on low-income and minority neighborhoods. That's not just a story of borrowers with a weak ability to pay. The larger story, another new study finds, is that lenders made a headlong rush to extend credit where it was least warranted.
What links these trends is that in both zones – the exurbs and low-income communities – the housing market peaked with lots of new loans and with lenders stretching the limits of sound finance. Now, these geographic patterns are partly defining the nature of America's economic slowdown and could also influence policies designed to heal the housing market."
Read the full story: Where housing bust hits hard
The Natalist Case For Sprawl (And Why It Fails)
Some commentators defend anti-urban government policies such as exclusionary zoning on the basis that homeowning suburbanites have high birth rates. But this doesn't seem to be true in recent decades.
Homebuyers Return to the Exurbs
It's been a while since 2008, and a new crop of homeowners is colonizing the far-flung exurbs. Mostly foreclosed and even abandoned last time around, the exurbs are still a risky buy.
Nearly Half a Million New Arizona Homes Halted Due to Water Crisis
The Arizona Department of Water Resources has put a moratorium on new water supply permits, making the future of planned residential developments uncertain.
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.
US buildings threatened, destroyed by fires set to triple by 2060
Researchers found a high fire risk for socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods in the American West.
LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.
Dallas moves to overhaul its zoning code
The city's zoning reform will allow more multi-family and mixed-use developments.
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
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority