Economic Development

Last Wednesday, an estimated 700,000—more than the city's population of 635,000—welcomed the Seahawks home, without major incident. Writing in The Atlantic Cities, Chuck Wolfe describes five lessons for placemaking through words and photographs.

February 8, 2014 - The Atlantic Cities

The Los Angeles 2020 Commission released a report that presents a scathing portrayal of Los Angeles, including a section on the city’s broken planning process.

January 9, 2014 - Los Angeles Times

In the United States, homeownership has long been touted as a sign of personal success and national prosperity. But a comparison of homeownership levels to economic health across 41 countries shows an inverse correlation.

September 17, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

Respected consulting firm McKinsey & Company offers a detailed report on the steps city leaders around the world take to transform their cities into great places to live and work.

September 5, 2013 - McKinsey & Company

After several years spent facing strong professional headwinds, former APA president Mitchell Silver is encouraged to see planners revitalizing the profession by embracing their roots.

July 11, 2013 - Citiwire

In the three steps of placemaking, crafting a meaningful vision is the first and most straightforward, yet it's the most under-leveraged. Continuing his series on "Municipal Placemaking Mistakes," Nathan Norris describes how to get it right.

November 23, 2012 - PlaceShakers

In a provocative essay, Mitchell Sutika Sipus examines the dangers of subscribing to conventions such as style or planning trends, and argues why planners must forgo ideologies to create better solutions for community problems.

October 20, 2012 - Humanitarian Space

Hazel Borys compiles an extraordinary list of studies quantifying the role of livable, walkable places in building equity, city coffers, health, and social capital.

September 14, 2012 - PlaceShakers

Can community building deliver more jobs than trying to lure back an industrial sector that's been leaving the U.S. for decades?

September 11, 2012 - PlaceShakers

Moving families from segregated, high poverty neighborhoods, into desegregated "areas of opportunity" has multiple effects. Housing mobility programs help revitalize communities and improve the physical and mental health of families involved.

September 6, 2012 - Shelterforce Magazine

Last week the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published a report, In Search of the Global Middle Class: A New Index, by researcher Uri Dadush, which uses car ownership rates as an indication of the size of a country's middle class

August 23, 2012 - Todd Litman

Amtrak is considering where to build stations in Philadelphia for high-speed rail. One of the options is a new station in Market East, an underdeveloped part of downtown. Leadership sees the project as a potential catalyst for new building.

August 19, 2012 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Katharine Seelye writes on the clash between business interests and residents of rural Maine, where a proposed private toll road has revealed a difference in values.

August 7, 2012 - The New York Times

Peter Hermann describes the police force's efforts in D.C.'s up-and-coming areas to put a stop to crime and congestion before it even occurs.

August 7, 2012 - The Washington Post

A recent paper by Harvard economists Daniel Shoag and Peter Ganong titled, Why Has Regional Convergence in the U.S. Stopped? indicates that land development regulations tend to increase housing costs, which contributes to inequality by excluding lower-income households from more economically productive urban regions. Does this means that planners are guilty of increasing income inequality?

July 26, 2012 - Todd Litman

A new report by the McKinsey Global Institute finds that the global consuming class will grow by 1 billion people by 2025, and undergo a profound geographic shift. Cities and businesses should prepare for this shift with targeted investments.

July 11, 2012 - McKinsey & Company

Joseph Berger examines how gentrification in certain Brooklyn neighborhoods has revealed a conflict of values among residents.

July 11, 2012 - The New York Times

A new bill proposing major cuts to the EPA could rob cities across the country of a specialized set of programs created to boost economic well-being.

July 10, 2012 - Next American City

In order to save Coney Island from dwindling unemployment rates and high poverty levels, developers rezone the 46-year-old amusement park, but the plans may never actually leave the paper.

July 3, 2012 - The Brooklyn Bureau

What should planners take away from last week's barrage of polls about Americans' attitudes?

June 19, 2012 - PlaceShakers