Looking back on five years of recovery in post-Katrina New Orleans, Roberta Brandes Gratz bemoans the fact that much of the community-based work remains below the radar.
After buying a house and living in the city, Gratz was able to see the community-led efforts that were taking place all over the city but which the media had largely ignored.
"Once it became clear the city couldn't evict them, locals took matters into their own hands. With the help of thousands of volunteers from around the country, they cleaned out badly damaged houses and made them livable again. They started fixing up playgrounds, parks and schools themselves. Church and community groups, schools and extended families became the nuclei for rebuilding projects around the city. Across New Orleans' 73 neighborhoods some 270 new community-based organizations opened their doors, providing everything from help cleaning out and restoring houses, starting businesses and managing the bureaucratic nightmare of collecting damages from insurance companies and the government."
FULL STORY: It Takes a Neighborhood
New York Governor Advances Housing Plan Amid Stiff Suburban Opposition
Governor Kathy Hochul’s ambitious proposal to create more housing has once again run into a brick wall of opposition in New York’s enormous suburbs, especially on Long Island. This year, however, the wall may have some cracks.
Rethinking the Role of Parking in the American City
In cities big and small, the tide is turning against sprawling parking lots, car-centric development, and minimum parking mandates.
Friday Eye Candy: 20 AI-Generated Cityscapes
AI-generated images are creating new landscapes and cityscapes, capable of inspiring awe or fear.
Study: Autonomous Cars Won’t Solve the Parking Problem
In hyper-dense cities where incentives to reduce car use and eliminate parking are already high, mass adoption of AVs won’t significantly reduce parking demand.
Proposed Pool Would Make an Olympic-Sized Play Area in the San Francisco Bay
The San Francisco Bay is usually an undesirable place to swim, except for a hearty few. A development proposal seeking assistance at the state level would add a pool to the Bay’s waters to make the idea of going for a swim more appealing.
Chicagoland Transit Agencies Call for State Funding as Budget Shortfall Looms
Illinois transit agencies want to see changes to a law requiring them to collect half of their revenue from transit fares, arguing that low ridership and staffing shortages will lead to a massive budget gap without intervention.
Princeton Planning
City of College Park
Houston-Galveston Area Council
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Spearfish
City of Lomita
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.
