Housing devaluation and job loss are the two major problems affecting America's urban areas. But as this article from Governing explains, those two problems are playing out in drastically different ways from metro to metro.
"States and localities are recovery-challenged. The problem for policymakers who would like to give states and localities a helpful push up the recovery ladder is that the troubles that bedevil those economies are not evenly distributed.
A report in March from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia indicates that states are recovering from this recession at greatly different speeds. In February, the bank's coincident index (an index that combines four state-level indicators to summarize current economic conditions in a single statistic for each state) increased in 21 states, decreased in 22 and remained unchanged in seven."
Governing's Penelope Lemov writes that the "double trouble" of job losses and home value losses are posing serious challenges for some cities, but many experts suggest focusing on jobs and letting the housing market right itself.
Read the full story: Cities Face Double Trouble
The Cities that Most Resemble Each Other
A fun activity in city comparison.
Urban Planning Ranked as the Second Best Job in Canada
It might come as a shock to planners who lived and worked through the great recession, but a Canadian publication has named urban planning in the number two position on a ranking of "Best Jobs" in the country.
Report Finds Surging City Center Job Growth
For half a century, suburbs surpassed city centers in population and job growth. These economic and demographic trends appear to be reversing. America's cities have grown faster than outlying areas and new research that jobs are coming with them.
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.
In Texas, data centers are swallowing promised parkland
Residents who moved to Taylor, Texas for a rural community now have to contend with three data centers in their backyard.
How a Chicago-sized wind farm beat the odds and powered on
The project spanned five presidential administrations and a standoff with a U.S. military base.
MTA gives itself 30 days to transform pit into basketball court
The site has been under construction since 2022; the city originally estimated it would finish the court in 2024.
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