Cities around the world are applying business-style techniques to planning and encouraging economic development.
Neal Peirce looks at the emerging trend and explores how cities are taking lessons from business -- and finding success.
"Seattle, the Twin Cities and the Cleveland area are even in the midst of what Brookings is heralding as a new era of applying modern business-style planning to the economic development potential of entire citistates.
Why this attention? 'Our world is marked by a network of metropolitan areas that work together and compete against each other,' some even spilling over state and national borders, said Wolfgang Nowak of the Deutsche Bank's Alfred Herrhausen Society. The metros are, he noted, 'the new regions of the 21st century, centers of innovation and economic growth,' but sharing 'the same problems: energy crisis, pollution, slum areas, crime, immigration' - all reasons for 'new forms of governance.'"
Read the full story: Business-style Planning — A Key for Hard-pressed Metros
15 US cities and their global namesakes
Hundreds of cities around the United States are named after other places. We tour a few of them.
New study visualizes how city shapes impact mobility
Whether circular or linear, the shape and layout of cities affects how their residents get around.
William Whyte’s Seminal Urban Film Restored
‘The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces’ changed the way planners view public space and ushered in a new way of understanding urban patterns.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
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.
Brightline Florida files for bankruptcy
The transit company is over $5 billion in debt.
St. Louis Metro to test if single-car trains can reduce operating costs, maintain rider satisfaction
The pilot program will run from October to spring 2027, and begin with one single-car train operating on Metrolink’s Red and Blue lines.
Pennsylvania is building data centers in abandoned mines
Housing data centers in mines provides an alternative to destroying local forests and may spare residents from data centers’ noise and air pollution.
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