Urban Schools
Vouchers Can Work, But...
School vouchers might expand educational choice and thus make city life more appealing to middle-class families—but the most appealing versions of a voucher system are also the most costly.
Learning From Kansas City
Kansas City is losing families to suburbia because of its allegedly subpar schools. How can families be lured back to city schools?.
Learning from Chicago's Schools
As the north side of Chicago has gentrified, many Chicago schools' test scores have improved- evidence that if a city neighborhood attracts enough affluent families, its schools will become more attractive as well.
Shuttered Schools a Growing Challenge in Cities Across the U.S.
Although young adults and baby boomers are flocking back to America's cities, declines in K-12 enrollment are causing many cities to close their schools. A new report looks at the commons challenges in finding new uses for these buildings.
Daley's Success As Chicago's 20-Year Mayor
Neal Pierce argues that retiring Mayor Daley's achievements in Chicago "stand out as beacons for mayors, American and worldwide, to emulate." He attributes some of his success to sheer political skill, but also examines seven effective policy shifts.
Infrastructure Spending, Policy Benefit Suburbs and not Cities
Harvard economics professor Edward L. Glaeser argues that the United States has a long, pervasive pattern of anti-urban behavior that needs to change.
Sustainability Through Schools
Efforts to desegregate schools in the 1970s weakened neighborhood ties. Now, a return to school assignments based on where children live could make communities stronger.
Pearl District Revitalization Now Includes Kids
A new affordable housing development going up in Portland's dense Pearl District will include a public school on the ground floor.
Learning from exam schools
Yesterday’s Washington Post contained a list of elite public schools- schools where the average student SAT is over 1300. Since suburban schools generally have better reputations than urban schools, one might expect that all the schools on the list would be in prestigious suburban school districts. But in fact, this is not the case. Three New York City schools (Stuyvestant, Hunter College, Bronx High) and one school near downtown Richmond (Maggie Walker) are on the high-SAT list- despite the fact that the New York City and Richmond school districts, like nearly all urban school districts, have mediocre reputations.
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
