New Orleans
A Tree Grows in Pigeon Town
I don’t know what it is about New Orleans that makes me wax rhapsodic. But something about the city makes everyday life look poetic. I returned to the Crescent City last week after having last visited just seven months ago, when a tree planting
Restarting New Orleans With Startups
In town for New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, Zak Stone reports on New Orleans' attempts to repopulate the city with the creative class.
Concluding the APA Convention: 'The Cost Comes Before the Benefit'
Renée Jones-Bos, Ambassador of the Netherlands to the United States, spoke about water, infrastructure, planning, ports, and cost-benefit analysis as the closing keynote speaker at the 2012 APA National Convention in Los Angeles.
When Does It Make Sense for a City to Downsize?
Roberta Brandes Gratz examines New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward to make the case that even neighborhoods past their prime are worth fighting for.
New Platform Aims to Be a Facebook for Cities
Claire Thompson profiles Neighborland, an online urban planning platform that aims to promote organic conversations that can build momentum and facilitate connections around improvement projects.
Recolonizing the Lower Ninth Ward
Nathaniel Rich reports on a different kind of urban regeneration that has taken place in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward where the "cartoonish pace of vegetation growth" conceals an ecology of wild animals, tires, and occasionally humans.
Spreading the Word that New Orleans is Open for Business
Ariel Schwartz reports on NOLAbound, a week-long event meant to showcase the sustainable, entrepreneurial culture that has taken hold in New Orleans as it recovers from Hurricane Katrina.
The Growing Attraction of Historic Streetcars
As cities across the country build and revive their streetcar networks, a sense of nostalgia for the time when they could be found in cities across the country is leading to a thriving business in refurbishing old streetcars.
On the Front Lines of the Future: New Orleans, Detroit, Phoenix
What do New Orleans, Detroit, and Phoenix all have in common? Each one has confronted some of our most pressing challenges of our time and has a lesson of survival to teach us.
Highway Removals to Become More Difficult
Following highly publicized urban highway removal success stories like Boston's Big Dig and San Francisco's Embarcadero, Anthony Flint asks whether similar successes will be easy to duplicate.
Can't Buy Me Love--Or Plan For It
This morning I embarked with three dozen volunteers to plant 10 trees in Pigeon Town, a neighborhood in western New Orleans. The group was completing an eight-hour training on urban greening initiatives, learning everything from pruning methods to how to work with municipalities to find funding for beautification projects—which have been proven to improve everything from real estate values to crime statistics. The training did not, however, cover what we were supposed to do when we heard gunshots ring out. That we had to improvise.
New Orleans Homeowner Finds Coffins in Backyard
Vincent Marcello intended to build a swimming pool in his backyard, which is built on top of the city's oldest burial grounds. 15 coffins have been excavated so far.
The Problem with "Playground Cities"
Witold Rybczynski crams a lot of insight into a very brief blog post on the issues of "playground cities" such as New Orleans that attract tourists and are flooded with vacation homes.
Post-Katrina, New Orleans Rebuilds With Cyclists in Mind
Before Katrina, New Orleans was unfriendly and unpopular for cyclists. Today, the city has 15 streets with bike lanes totaling 40 miles of bike pathway, and is gunning to be as bike-friendly as Portland or Seattle.
Picture Not So Rosy in the Ninth Ward
Martin C. Pedersen says New Orleans' recovery is far from over in the Ninth Ward, even with the efforts of groups like Brad Pitt's Make it Right Foundation.
Can Community Land Trusts Work for Retail Centers?
New Orleans, San Francisco, and Albuquerque are exploring, and implementing, community land trusts as an economic development tool that can encourage development in business districts while assuring that local businesses are not displaced.
Biking on the Rise in New Orleans
Bicycle use has increased in many parts of New Orleans, thanks to new bike lanes.
Obama Launches Strong Cities, Strong Communities Initiative In 6 Cities
Six pilot cities are selected for the launch of a new federal, interagency initiative know as 'Strong Cities, Strong Communities': Fresno, New Orleans, Detroit, Cleveland, Memphis and Chester, PA.
Slow Progress in East New Orleans
In this piece from Places, Deborah Gans offers a firsthand look at planning for recovery in the city's neglected East side.
New Orleans to Explore Dutch Approach to Water Management
A local firm is leading an effort in New Orleans to manage the city's water more like the Dutch.
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.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
