Neighborhoods

10 Ways to Boost Neighborhood Pride

Kyla Fullenwider offer ten simple ideas to improve the livability of your block.

February 10, 2010 - Good

The Right Interventions to Restore Confidence in Weak Markets

Housing affordability is too often seen as the way to stabilize and revitalize weak markets. Neighborhood planning consultants Charles Buki and Elizabeth Humphrey Schilling argue that interventions in weak markets must encourage investment by improving market confidence.

February 4, 2010 - Charles Buki

Notes on Structural Change: Redefining the Problem of Weak Markets

The foreclosure crisis spreading across America has burdened cities and neighborhoods with value-draining vacancies and abandoned properties. To counteract the economic havoc they've caused, planners and policymakers must focus on restoring confidence in the market, according to neighborhood planning consultants Charles Buki and Elizabeth Humphrey Schilling.

January 28, 2010 - Charles Buki

The Geography of Netflix

By utilizing rental data Netflix makes freely available, the New York Times has published a Google Maps mashup illustrating the most popular rental titles in each zip code.

January 15, 2010 - New York Times

New London, Four Years After Kelo

The 2005 Supreme Court decision on Kelo v. New London was a landmark in eminent domain law, paving the way for Pfizer to develop there. Four years later, Pfizer is pulling up stakes.

November 13, 2009 - The Hartford Courant

Creating Neighborhood Capital from Strip Malls

Strip malls are in virtually every American city, but they're rarely an important part of those cities. Ava Bromberg says they can be. Her idea is to turn strip malls into community-owned hubs that generate capital within their neighborhood and keep it there.

October 1, 2009 - Nate Berg

The History of San Francisco's Urban Form

Some call it a city of neighborhoods. This piece from the San Francisco Chronicle looks at the history of the urban form of San Francisco and why it looks the way it does today.

September 27, 2009 - San Francisco Chronicle

How Policy Can Make Better Neighborhoods and Schools

A new study from The Brookings Institution discusses how school quality and neighborhood affordability are linked, and how both can be improved.

August 1, 2009 - The Brookings Institution

Oh, Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?

Researchers at the Pew Charitable Trust have found that the neighborhood in which a child is raised is a powerful indicator of adult economic success.

July 29, 2009 - The Washington Post

Air in Hundreds of Neighborhoods Carries Elevated Risk of Cancer

Residents in 600 American neighborhoods are breathing air with levels of pollution that put them at an elevated risk of developing cancer.

June 26, 2009 - Associated Press

The Most Dangerous Neighborhood in the U.S.

NeighborhoodScout.com used GIS and FBI data from 17,000 local law enforcement agencies to compile its list of the 25 worst neighborhoods for crime in the country.

June 24, 2009 - Walletpop.com

Locking Trash Bins to Thwart Scavengers

Residents of Santa Ana neighborhood are locking up their trash bins, hoping to eliminate the noise and trouble brought by scavengers.

June 18, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

L.A.'s Neighborhoods Defined and Mapped

After months of input on boundaries from readers, the Los Angeles Times has released its map of neighborhoods in the city.

June 4, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

The Emptiest Neighborhoods in America

A neighborhood in Buffalo, N.Y. is one of the emptiest in the U.S., according to a new analysis of the census from the Associated Press. About 1 out of every 3 homes is vacant.

May 6, 2009 - Newsday

Cities Search for Neighborhood Stabilization Tools

Cities struck by the foreclosure crisis are implementing a number of measures to help prevent foreclosures and stabilize neighborhoods already racked by vacancies.

May 5, 2009 - The Planning Report

How Green is Your Neighborhood?

San Francisco residents will get their first peek today at an inventive Internet-based tool that lets them track their personal carbon footprint and gauge how green their neighborhood is compared with the rest of the city.

April 24, 2009 - San Francisco Chronicle

Place May Be Major Factor In Cancer Rates

Reports have long linked higher cancer rates to different racial groups, but a new study suggests that location may play a more significant role in the prevalence of the disease.

April 14, 2009 - American Cancer Society

Tea Leaves in Cleveland

In January 1992, The New York Times Sunday Magazine ran a piece by Columbia’s Nicholas Lemann, titled “The Myth of Community Development”.  It was then - timed to provoke critical thinking about the Clinton Administration’s vanilla urban policy of Empowerment Communities (EZ/EC) - a poignant evaluation of community development, and it asked hard questions. Questions about the capacity of local organizations, the wisdom of economic development efforts in the hands of anemic CDCs.  Neither wholly right nor wrong, the piece put on the table a necessary skunk:  was it sensible to try to revitalize the inner city using the tools and thinking then at hand?

March 10, 2009 - Charles Buki

Defining The Neighborhood Through Mapping

In an effort to get a more precise look at the city and its distinct neighborhoods, the Los Angeles Times is starting a collaborative mapping project to set clear and adaptable boundaries for L.A.'s neighborhoods.

February 22, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

Down on the Corner

Solutions to our global ills can be found in your local neighborhood, says Jay Walljasper. Great examples can be found in communities from South Bend, Indiana to Mississauga, Ontario.

January 5, 2009 - Jay Walljasper

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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.