Downtowns
In downtowns across America, booming development has come at the expense of crucial homeless services that have traditionally located there.
CityLab
America's urban streetcar renaissance looks to be on track with eight more projects planning to break ground by 2020. The list includes some of the nation's largest metros as well as plenty of medium-sized cities.
Bisnow
In short, transit wasn't really there. When transportation network services went down, people felt stranded. Transit friendliness can go a long way.
Medium
Wedding photographers are fond of taking post-nuptial photos on quaint Main Streets, but rarely on the commercial strip. Here's why.
Community Builders
Downtown property owners are clashing with food truck operators over where the latter should park their businesses.
MinnPost
It's no secret that urban centers are doing better today than they were 30 years ago. New FHFA data on housing prices confirms the trend and suggests that a changing environment (as opposed to changing preferences) account for it.
The Washington Post
Blogger and transit consultant Jarrett Walker paints a picture of Portland's Line 75, a workaday bus serving urban neighborhoods outside downtown. His reflections on radial and orbital journeys are worth a read.
Bus75.org
Fairly or unfairly, Des Moines has a solid reputation as one of the nation's least interesting cities. But unbeknownst to the rest of us, this quiet working town might become the Midwest's answer to Austin, Texas.
Politico
The Terraces, a mixed-use project in Charlottesville, Virginia, adopts a design that reflects its historic downtown surroundings. Oliver Kuttner, the developer, says that "breaking up" large buildings can make them more palatable on street level.
Market Urbanism
The big, contentious question of contemporary downtowns is under consideration in Dallas: Is there too much parking or not enough parking?
The Dallas Morning News
The Vancouver City Council took a major step forward this week with an idea that it's been mulling for years: to tear down the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts located in the city's downtown.
CBC News
If jobs, services, and other urban amenities are concentrated downtown, suburbanites can use transit to get there quickly without a car. Job sprawl makes transit useless outside central districts.
City Observatory
Local officials, planners, and other civic leaders have joined together to look at how the city can bring neighborhoods split by freeways back together again.
The Dallas Morning News
The Quicken Loans founder and real estate mogul now controls 78 downtown properties. His investment choices can set the tone for life in what used to be an abandoned city center.
Detroit Free Press
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.
City Observatory City Commentary
While they're currently in vogue, streetcars are only worthwhile if they can be a viable option for local residents. Unfortunately, this is rarely how the systems are designed.
ULI Urban Land Magazine
The Core Values: Why American Companies are Moving Downtown report, released on June 18, 2015, provides in-depth analysis of a powerful trend of companies investing in urban downtowns.
Smart Growth America
Opponents of the capital investment plan rejected the plan on the basis that it focused too much on the downtown area.
The New York Times
Improvements funded by the developer of the 73-story Wilshire Grand project will make Downtown Los Angeles' main thoroughfare a better place to walk, bike, and use public transit.
Urbanize LA
What helps make a downtown family friendly? Safe places to play, safe streets, good schools and attainable housing, writes Jennifer Hill.
Community Builders
