Pittsburgh is the new poster child for recovery, the city that managed to turn around its economic struggles. Ben Schulman digs in to figure out if how the myth meets reality.
Schulman writes:
"The lesson to be gleamed from Pittsburgh isn't so much in what steps it's taken on its way to recovery. Rather, the lesson to be learned from Pittsburgh is what happened to it when its Great Recession hit in 1983."
Renn explains that Pittsburgh's path to success came from hitting rock bottom and capitalizing on the strengths that were left: "...beautiful architecture, old establishment money, intact communities and ethnic organizations, and cultural trusts and universities."
Read the full story: Pittsburgh and the Magic of Failure by Ben Schulman
Managing Abandoned Homes in North Braddock
The usual litany of Rust Belt woes hit North Braddock, Pennsylvania particularly hard. The Pittsburgh suburb has shed two-thirds of its population and is burdened with 350 abandoned properties.
Will Generation Y Drive a Rust Belt Redux?
In search of cheap rent and an urban experience with some bona fide street cred, young people are making the move out to the Rust Belt, Will Doig reports.
750 Pittsburgh city workers to get free transit passes
City employees working downtown will have access to free transit from Pittsburgh Regional Transit.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Northwest rail fans eager for Sept. 30 debut of Amtrak’s Airo fleet
Get ready for that new train smell and more seats. But they won’t go faster or run more frequently on the Cascades route in Washington and Oregon.
Judges permit Denver to divert 77,000 acre feet from the Colorado River for reservoir expansion
Overuse and climate change have caused the Colorado River’s water levels to plummet.
Massive tunnel-boring machine breaks ground on Gateway Project
The Trump administration revoked funding for the project in October 2025, and then restored it earlier this year.
Airo trainsets begin service on Amtrak Cascades route
The trains feature panoramic windows, complementary wifi and over 300 seats per train set.
As El Niño approaches, Newsom vetos bill aimed at protecting California levees from flooding
Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state’s allocated $170 million was enough funding; State experts estimate it will cost $3.3 billion to repair the California Delta's levees.
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 Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello