If even a sliver of a 78-million-strong set of consumers seems willing to hand over cash for something, businesses organize themselves to deliver, whether we’re talking hula hoops or downtown apartments.
"When The New York Times used my wife and me as examples in a story about retirees’ growing preferences for urban life, it was a chance to literally walk the talk."
"I’ve been writing about my Baby Boomer cohort for all my career, first in the ‘60s alternative press, then in newspaper and magazine stories as we aged through what is probably the longest adolescence in world history. The chance we’ll grow up before we die? Even money. But here’s something you can bet on: The generation that moved markets at every stage of our lives is likely to have something left for a finale. And maybe it’s a walk-off nudge in the direction of neighborhood and community design."
Ben Brown goes on to discuss urbanized areas as Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs).
Read the full story: The City as NORC: It’s the people thing
People Get Ready: Here Come the Millennials
As they settle into early adulthood, the anticipated and far-reaching impacts of the Millennial generation are formidable. Community planners, get ready. Change is a-comin.
America's Housing Stock in Need of Triage
In rising to meet America's changing housing needs and demands, not every community is positioned to pull it off. What to do? Painful though it is, Ben Brown suggests triage.
Imminent Doom as Grand Strategy
What do three-pack-a-day smoking habits, triple-decker cheese burgers and sprawl have in common? They all offer immediate gratification and deferred consequences. But now the bill's coming due. Ben Brown lays out some ways to face the music.
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.
After public outcry, Massachusetts city releases housing development tracker
Cambridge’s tracker currently shows 250 housing projects in various stages of development.
40 years after approval, Chicago breaks ground on new park
The park honors Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the city’s first permanent non-native settler.
‘Hoodwinked:’ New Mexico bill aimed at microgrids paves way for data center development
In an interview with High Country News, Padilla said the legislation “ignited” New Mexico's economy.
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