Cities
The Presidential Focus on Cities and Metros
Urban policy is looking to be a major element of President Barack Obama's administration. Though it hasn't quite taken shape yet, this piece argues it's a good sign for cities and metropolitan regions.
Planning for Spontaneity
According to this opinion piece, planners must ease up on "big bang" planning--an approach centered around sweeping changes with fixed ideas of what the outcome must look like.
The City Makes a Comeback
Nicolai Ouroussof uses four cities--New Orleans, Los Angeles, The Bronx, and Buffalo--as case studies on how America's urban areas, long neglected, can once again be great.
The Future of Boston in the Age of the City
As theorists predict we are entering the age of the city, Boston Globe architecture critic Robert Campbell reflects on what this shift will mean and how Boston's landscape will change as a result.
City Dwellers Do Less Harm
A new study has shown that city dwellers are less of a burden on the environment than those outside of city and metropolitan areas.
Taking Cities Beyond the Greenwash
The idea of sustainability is growing up, and as concerns about the environment take hold in cities from the bottom up, some are calling for a more sophisticated approach to "green" city development, write Anthony Flint and William Shutkin.
Stimulus Has Good News for Cities
Next American City's Jeffrey Hill reads through the federal stimulus bill to find good news for cities.
Housing on the Rise in American Metros
Cities are increasingly taking on a larger share of new residential development, according to a new analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Satisfied in the Suburb
According to the Pew Research Center, suburban dwellers are the most content with where they live, despite reports that also find that suburbs are not regarded the most ideal places to live.
Recovery or Rerun?
A new government-sponsored watchdog website will allow citizens to track stimulus-funded projects. It's an effort to insure accountability. Neal Pierce wonders if that accountability will translate into smarter patterns of development.
America's Municipal Meltdown
Towns and small cities dependent on one or two industries are reeling in the face of the economic downturn and major budget cuts. Can the nation's large cities be far behind?
Reborn From the Crisis
In this thorough piece from The Atlantic, Richard Florida looks at the economic crisis facing the world, how it's affecting cities and regions, and how it will have a lasting effect on the U.S. -- in both good and bad ways.
Cities Face Hard Choices in Economic Crisis
The National League of Cities is reporting that the vast majority of America's cities are facing "fiscal difficulties," including a loss in tax revenue and the inability to secure credit.
A Look at the Cities of the Future
This slideshow from Treehugger offers visions of the future of cities -- from decades ago and today.
With No Jobs, China's Rural Exodus Retracting
More than 20 million Chinese who had migrated to cities for work have been forced to return to the rural countryside as urban jobs dry up.
A Better World Through Architecture
Architect Wes Jones argues that architecture is "an argument for a better world". But the general public doesn't understand how. Neither do most architects, writes Christopher Hume.
The Urban Recruitment Center
The military has recently opened a new type of recruitment office known as "The Army Experience Center" in a Philadelphia shopping mall. It's like an arcade, where video games and other interactive technologies provide visitors a glimpse of what it might be like to be in the military. It's a new approach, one that capitalizes on the modern teenager's affection for video games to attract them to the military life. You could call it persuasive, cajoling, or even a thinly-veiled attempt to con kids with flashy games, but, as it provides exactly what its target audience wants, the bottom line is that it's very effective. Why couldn't a city do the same thing?
Cities Gone Wild!
Architects form the University of British Columbia are calling on cities to "go wild" -- mainly by integrating ecological features into the cityscape to make it more self-contained. The result would be both sustainable and exciting, they say.
What's Next for the Cityburbs?
The line between suburb and city blurs as suburbs struggle with the problems of the cities' past. But there's hope, say this article's authors, who make a case for regionalism and government's active role in reinventing such struggling places.
The Death, Then Life, of Great American Cities
On Tuesday, over a million Americans made it to Washington, D.C. to attend President Obama's inauguration. Christopher Hawthorne relates the nation's refreshed optimism to an impending revival of urbanism and public space.
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.
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
Eagle County Government
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
