Urban Development

L.A.'s New Transit Oriented Communities Guidelines Are a Boost for Affordable Housing
The city of Los Angeles is taking substantive action to provide incentives for affordable housing development.

A Database of Urbanism-Related Research
A new project is intended to forge connections between research and practice in the world of urbanism.
Octopus City Discovered
Scientists discover a 15-octopus 'city' off of the eastern coast of Australia, the second such colony of cephalopods.

Bodegas Are Vital to Urban Neighborhoods
Bodegas play an essential role in the communities they serve. Under threat by online retail and encroaching chain stores, they face a new danger from technology. New York YIMBY gives them a well-deserved shout-out.

Salvaging Historic Building Materials for Job Creation and Environmental Benefit
A proposed ordinance would save derelict buildings from the wrecking ball, and send them to the salvage yard instead.

Miami Beach: A Model of Climate Adaptation for Coastal Cities?
How did the seven square mile, four-foot high barrier island in the Atlantic Ocean off Miami and Biscayne Bay hold-up to Hurricane Irma? The city arguably has done more to adapt to sea level rise in recent times than any other coastal city.
D.C. Auditor Reveals Blight Enforcement Shortcomings
There's a surprising amount of vacancies and blight in the nation's capital, and District officials aren't doing everything in their power to address the challenge.

Carson Op-Ed Lays Out the Trump Agenda for HUD
Ben Carson has penned an op-ed that lays out the ideology driving the Trump Administration's approach to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Hyper Urban Growth Without Residential Displacement
Here's a change: Displacement in the nation's fastest growing urban neighborhood has largely been limited to businesses. The new highrises have given Queens something it never had: a skyline.

Friday Not Funny: Drake Meme Appears in a NYC Parks Department Rendering
An armed forces veteran or a Boston Marathon bombing survivor would have been a better choice.

Proposed Density Causes 'Chaos' at the Newark City Council Hearing
A suite of zoning changes that would increase building heights and density along the Passaic River in Newark, New Jersey, provoked a chaotic council hearing that devolved into shouting and the removal of residents from the council chambers.
A Health-Focused Building Certification Gets Its First Showcase
The first WELL-certified buildings are now online, and the Urban Land Institute has examined the business propositions behind the system.

Facebook to Expand in San Francisco
While everyone's attention in recent weeks has been on Amazon, another huge tech company has made a big bet on San Francisco.

Mapping Displacement Stories
The Regional Plan Association calls on the power of the contemporary Internet to broadcast stories of displacement from around Greater New York.
Mexico City Earthquake Should Raise Questions About Building Safety
The epicenter of Tuesday's quake was in the state of Puebla, 80 miles southeast of Mexico City. Soft soil and unreinforced buildings magnified the damage. The quake comes two weeks after an 8.1 quake struck off the coast of the state of Oaxaca.

Montreal Wants to Lead North America in Biking Infrastructure
Montreal has a five-year plan to become an "international bike metropolis and cycling leader in North America."

Puerto Rico Braces for Direct Hit from Hurricane Maria on Wednesday
A second catastrophic hurricane is on track to devastate much of the Caribbean, barely two weeks after category five Hurricane Irma departed. In addition to Maria, a much weaker Hurricane Jose will affect the Mid-Atlantic and New England.
Amazon's Second HQ Poised for Smart Growth
Amazon's second headquarters is huge, and their bias for walkable places says they are going to do it all over again in a new city. However, maybe they should take the high road and not beg for subsidies.

Sustainable for Whom? Large-Scale Urban Development Projects and 'Environmental Gentrification'
Large, adaptive-reuse projects are all the rage in urban planning today, but absent a fundamentally new approach—with affordability at the center of the process—they are likely to become engines of what's been termed "environmental gentrification."

Report: How Pittsburgh Can Boost Its 'Innovation Economy'
A team of researchers at Brookings suggests ways for Pittsburgh to lock in its status as a hub of the next economy, leaving all talk of the "Rust Belt" behind.
Pagination
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.
JM Goldson LLC
Custer County Colorado
Sarasota County Government
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)