Social / Demographics

New Study Examines Bicyclist Fatality Data from 1975-2012
There's good and bad news to report from the 37-year study. Good news: Decreased child fatal bike crashes, but it results from fewer children biking. Bad news: Increased adult fatal crashes, but it results from an increase in adult male cyclists.

Promise Zones Partner Up in Los Angeles and Philadelphia
A new phase of President Obama's Promise Zone anti-poverty initiative will take place simultaneously in Los Angeles and Philadelphia. AmeriCorps staff will be on hand to provide career coaching to high school students.
Upper Manhattan's Disappearing Bodegas
Rising rents and competition with chains are taking their toll on Manhattan bodegas, a mainstay for hispanic neighborhoods for their fresh and ethnic foods. As their numbers decline, chain stores increase, and Walk Scores drop.

What's the Matter With the Planning Process?
Current planning models places housing affordability and preservation fundamentally at odds with one another. We must be willing to re-evaluate our processes if we are to truly move forward.
Harnessing Social Resilience in the Rust Belt
Paterson, New Jersey's diverse immigrant population holds the potential to revive the city's declining economy. Writer Jeff Byles documents key resources the city has and how similar postindustrial cities have harnessed community-driven planning.
Rethinking Culture and Community in New York City
Caron Atlas has spent decades working to understand and improve the relationship between cities and the arts. As co-director of Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts New York, she advocates for the recognition of artistic activity throughout NYC.

Measuring Well-Being in Santa Monica
The beachfront town known for its surfers and celebrities is collecting data that dig deeper than traditional measures of economic prosperity, and the results may be surprising.

Residents Forced Out of Washington, D.C.'s Chinatown
Can a neighborhood still call itself Chinatown when everyone living there is wealthy and white? Beset by rapid gentrification, longtime residents of D.C.'s Chinatown fight to keep their homes.

How Falling Inequality Rates Mislead
While the vast majority of cities saw an increase—or no decrease—in neighborhood inequality since 1990, nearly 30 regions became more equal. But paper equality can be problematic when the rich simply up and left town.
Blog Series Explores the 'Heart of the Arctic'
Hazel Borys chronicles an Arctic expedition adventure, rife with environmental insights. If you ever wondered what it felt like in the olden days to receive dispatches from explorers off in distant mysterious lands, maybe it felt something like this.
City Life in the Republic of NGOs
Haiti's weak government and heavy foreign aid presence has led some to refer to it as the "Republic of NGOs." Satellite explored how this dynamic plays out in the small city of Fort-Liberté, which has been shaken by recent protests over electricity.

The Political Semantics of Housing Segregation
Two authors agree that housing policies in the War on Poverty have failed. Are those policies too progressive, or not progressive enough?

Friday Funny: Hipster Havens in All 50 States
Everyone has heard about Silver Lake, the Mission, and, of course, Brooklyn. But what about East Village, NuLu, Fondren, and Haymarket? Hipsters are everywhere! These are the top hipster neighborhoods—the Brooklyns, if you will—in all 50 states

The Changing Face of Suburban America
As the nation becomes more racially diverse, so too do the suburbs.

Op-Ed Decries the Idea of the 'Triumph of the City'
An unflinching op-ed begs a rethinking of narratives that cheer the "Triumph of the City." In the contemporary city, the argument goes, only the rich are better off from urbanization.

Most Downtowns Still Lagging Behind
Central districts have been surging back since the 1980s. But in most cities, the upper third of earners still favor outlying areas and are underrepresented closer to downtown.

Map Depicts Nationwide Geography of Inequality
An analysis and accompanying interactive map from the Urban Institute show where the nation's richest and poorest tend to live. The map tells a tale of deeply ingrained wealth segregation.

Op-Ed: Newer Model Density Falls Short of its Promise
The general principle is simple: more density equals lower prices and less environmental impact. But suburbia's imprint is deep, both on cities themselves and on how we expect to inhabit them.

All-White Neighborhoods Are Nearly Extinct; All-Black Neighborhoods Persist
The good news is that middle-class suburbs are becoming increasingly integrated. However, a closer look at the migration patterns of whites and minorities reveals a more complex picture, rife with racism.
Poverty Shifts to the Twin Cities Suburbs
A recent report finds that more people are living in poverty in suburban areas than in the more urban areas of the Twin Cities region.
Pagination
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.
City of Clovis
City of Moorpark
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions