Urban Development
City life is being sold as a convenient version of the suburbs, with similar amenities minus the time-consuming commute.
The New York Times
As cities define our world in new ways every day, Penn Institute for Urban Research asked nearly dozen urban experts, “Why cities?”
Penn IUR Urban Link
Penn IUR's Eugenie Birch, Richard Voith and Susan Wachter ask: Can rapidly urbanizing cities in low and moderate income countries become "smarter"?
Penn IUR Urban Link
Sprawl leads to more emissions, but the economic costs are also high. Policies and strategies that ensure compact growth are essential.
World Resources Institute
A chapter by Jeremy Nowak, who passed away this summer, adapted from the book "Shared Prosperity in America’s Communities."
Penn IUR Urban Link
A new report shows that low-carbon development policies can help to achieve numerous planning goals including job creation, improved safety and public health, social inclusion, and improved accessibility.
The Economic and Social Benefits of Low-Carbon Cities: A Systematic Review of the Evidence
"Penn: Current Research on Sustainable Urban Development" is a collection of 11 research papers on key urban topics, authored by faculty, associated researchers and fellows from three centers at the University of Pennsylvania.
Penn IUR Urban Link
Already a common means of delivering infrastructure in many countries, public-private partnerships are growing in importance in the United States, but how do they compare to other procurement models?
Doggerel
Many cities require the owners of multistory buildings to regularly inspect their façades, looking for problems that may lead to injury or property damage. Drones can potentially help ease the process and cost of doing so.
Doggerel
As seas rise, San Francisco is looking to shore up its costal protection against earthquakes and extreme weather events.
San Francisco Chronicle
Blog post
A new study uses night sky satellite images to measure urban development patterns in India. The results can help guide smarter growth.
A new owner and the proximity of the renovated National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Headquarters may signal a change in fortunes for North St. Louis
Governing
A major study by the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, "Revitalizing Places: Improving Housing and Neighborhoods from Block to Metropolis," identifies planning strategies to improve housing and urban development practices.
Rethinking Social Housing in Mexico Project
Sixty years of highway construction has significantly changed Miami's development patterns.
Modern Cities
An affordable housing proposal proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown failed to marshal the necessary support in the State Legislature, facing opposition from a coalition of labor and environmental groups, as well as the League of California Cities.
San Francisco Housing Action Coalition
How one firm is integrating sharing economy principles to bolster Chicago's public schools.
Doggerel
Blog post
Smart Growth can provide many direct benefits to residents, businesses and local governments. Our challenge is to better answer the question that many stakeholders ask, "What’s in it for me?"
Academic institutions can play a major role in enriching the communities they operate in. Amy Deines, interim dean of the College of Architecture and Design at Lawrence Technological University in Detroit, discusses the city and school's trajectory.
Doggerel
Blog post
There are many ways that communities can support and encourage affordable housing development. Let's compare them.
Blog post
Smart Growth critic Wendell Cox recently endorsed White House Economic Advisor Jason Furman's criticisms of zoning codes that limit infill development, essentially endorsing Smart Growth policy reforms.
