Social / Demographics
Bikes Become Target of Conservatives' Vitriol
Is biking a partisan past time? If you listen to conservative leaders, you might think bikes were created as part of a liberal mission to spread socialism and curtail personal freedoms. Cycling is the unlikely new front in the culture wars.
38.2 Million Californians: Fastest Growth in a Decade
After years of lower-than-normal population growth, more foreign immigrants are coming to California. The new residents contributed to a 332,000 increase in the state's population, the largest in nearly a decade, says the Calif. Dept. of Finance.
L.A. Union Station's Pilot Program Discriminates Against Subway Passengers
Los Angeles’s Union Station is trying something new to keep the homeless at bay: restricting waiting room seating to ticketed passengers.
Happy City Highlights
Hazel Borys shines today's PlaceShaker spotlight on "Happy City" by Charles Montgomery. Check it out and you'll be questioning our collective priorities in no time. C'mon get happy!
Bike Share's Demographic Challenge
Bike share is in some ways the opposite of public transit, from a demographic perspective. While transit is often disproportionately patronized by low income riders, bike share is overwhelmingly avoided by that same group. NPR looks for the reasons.

American Cities Face Rising Hunger and Homelessness Crisis
Despite economic improvement across the country, a recent survey of 25 American cities finds homelessness and hunger are on the rise. With the federal government cutting resources, providing for the neediest is expected to be harder next year.
Summit Prescribes Walking as America's "Wonder Drug"
At America's first ever "Walking Summit", physicians, planners, developers, and community activists gathered to discuss how physical activity can help heal people and communities.
Is Washington A Childless City?
Some media commentary suggests that fast-gentrifying cities such as Washington are unable to attract families. In Washington, the reality is more complex; the city's high-income neighborhoods actually gained children over the past decade.
Tougher Driving Laws Prevent Deaths, So Why Don't States Adopt Them?
A new study that compares how each of the 50 states regulates dangerous motorist behaviors has found that those with the toughest laws have the least traffic deaths. So why don't more states adopt “evidence-based policies”?

Top 10 Books - 2014
Planetizen is pleased to release its twelfth annual list of the ten best books in urban planning, design and development published in 2013.
Undoing the Spatial Legacy of Apartheid
In manicured neighborhoods for white residents and their "shriveled twins" for black residents, South Africa's nearly 50 years of Apartheid was imprinted on the nation's built landscape. To what extent was Nelson Mandela able to right these wrongs?

Large Companies Moving Back to Cities
The movement stems from demographic changes in the work force. For companies seeking younger hires, they need to go to where they prefer to live. Suburban campuses may be replaced by urban headquarters or the addition of satellite offices in cities.
Researchers Say Two Simple Rules Can Predict Urban Growth
Is it possible to predict when and how cities will grow? A group of researchers in France say the answer is yes.
Social Impact Bonds Aim to Attract Investment in Public Health
A pilot project hopes to pioneer a new type of investment by alleviating asthma among lower-income children. Project developers hope the Fresno Asthma Impact Model could become a national model for improving health and reducing costs.
Pick to Head NYPD Seen as Street Safety Ally
With traffic deaths in New York City approaching falling homicide rates, calls for improving road safety are increasing. William Bratton, the former and future NYPD Commissioner, has signaled street safety will be a priority, exciting advocates.
Obama Takes on Inequality
In a major economic speech delivered yesterday, President Obama called America's growing inequality and lack of upward mobility “the defining challenge of our time”. Though he may have diagnosed the disease, did he prescribe an effective cure?
13 Ways to Kill Your Community
Scott Doyon reviews the book "13 Ways to Kill Your Community", by Alberta Legislative Assembly member Doug Griffiths and journalist Kelly Clemmer. In it, the authors reveal some of the "curiously recurring behaviors" that harm cities of all sizes.
Tale of Two Californias Misses the Bigger Story of Inequality
California's inequality is usually described in geographic terms that distinguishes between the state's affluent coastal areas and impoverished inland areas. When considering the cost of living, a statewide poverty crisis comes into focus.
Correlating Driving Misbehavior with Crime
Is there a correlation between running red lights and more violent crime like robberies and homicide? Gabe Klein, Chicago's distinguished outgoing transportation commissioner, thinks so. It's been dubbed "the broken windows effect."
"Distress 'Burbs" are the Hot Political Battlegrounds of Today
Forget swing states, Richard Florida says, suburbs are today’s political battlegrounds.
Pagination
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Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Jefferson Parish Government
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont