Social / Demographics

Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson raises the issue that there are not enough minorities representing the communities that planners and designers strive to make better.

February 7, 2012 - Grist

The new exhibit at Toyko's Mori Art Museum will be the first architecture showcase since the 2011 earthquake, and displays a movement central to the country's history of building and rebuilding.

February 7, 2012 - The New York Times

Facadism is often criticized for its awkward juxtapositions, but here are eight of the nicest facadist renovations from around the world, according to Stephen Smith.

February 4, 2012 - International Business Times

Gendered Innovations, a Stanford University project devoted to gender analysis, has revealed that miscategorization has obscured the fact that women ride public transit much more than previously believed, and much more than men.

February 2, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Writing for the Well blog, Jane Brody traces the direct link between 20th century development patterns and the leading causes of disease and death. Put simply, public health is the biggest challenge facing planners today.

February 1, 2012 - The New York Times

In an opinion piece, noted economist Jeffrey Sachs explores what it will take to achieve the 'triple bottom line' of sustainable development, which the UN puts at the top of the global agenda.

February 1, 2012 - Project Syndicate

A lawsuit based on the Americans With Disabilities Act may leave Los Angeles responsible for over a billion dollars' worth of crumbling sidewalks.

January 31, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

Sam Roberts reports on a new study of census results that found the nation’s cities are more racially integrated than at any time since 1910.

January 31, 2012 - The New York Times

Over the last two decades the city of San Francisco has systematically removed its public benches to fight homelessness. Now citizens are clamoring for their return.

January 30, 2012 - The New York Times

Nate Berg reports on new information from the Urban Institute’s MetroTrends research team that shows where the 1.2 million jobs added since the end of the great recession (June 2009 officially) have been located, and the results may surprise you.

January 29, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Alex Goldmark reports on a new for-profit investing tool to incentivize innovation to solve chronic social challenges, which is gaining popularity in the U.S. and has already been tested in the United Kingdom and Australia.

January 28, 2012 - Good

The percentage of adult Americans living by themselves has doubled since 1960, to its highest level ever, and businesses are taking note.

January 26, 2012 - Fortune

Yesterday the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a new ordinance meant to better tie planning for the county's unincorporated areas to positive public health outcomes.

January 25, 2012 - Curbed LA

Nancy Folbre looks at a new study by the Foundation for Child Development featuring state-level differences in a broad set of quality-of-life indicators for children, and parses the results.

January 25, 2012 - The New York Times

A new survey provided some good news for the alternative technology sector of the auto market: younger consumers prefer hybrids and other electrified vehicles over conventional vehicles, especially fuel-inefficient ones.

January 25, 2012 - Bloomberg News

Scott Carlson profiles the work of Dr. Richard J. Jackson, chair of Environmental Health Sciences at the UCLA's School of Public Health, one of the leading voices calling for better urban design for the sake of good health.

January 23, 2012 - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Zappos founder Tony Hsieh and his team went from designing a new campus to an entirely new collaborative city in downtown Las Vegas for Zappos employees and other emerging members of the creative class.

January 23, 2012 - CNN Money - Fortune Tech

Christopher Hawthorne reviews an exhibition at the Center for Land Use Interpretation in Los Angeles on the subject of nine places in the United States that claim to occupy the center of the country.

January 21, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

Richard Florida takes a look at new information out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that identifies binge drinking rates by state.

January 21, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

At least that's what some are accusing Microsoft of patenting in its "Pedestrian Route Production" app, whose aim is to help pedestrians avoid unsafe neighborhoods "by taking information from maps, weather reports, crime statistics and demographics."

January 20, 2012 - NPR