Urban Development

D.C.'s New Metro Line Already Influencing the Suburbs
The Silver Line opened two and a half months ago. Already, with strong ridership in both directions, some businesses are seeing new opportunities.
A Comprehensive Accounting of Economic and Environmental Performance: Who's in?
For the last several decades, North American cities have used growth as a primary economic engine. Increasingly less dense new growth is subsidized by the more dense core, but requires a growth rate that is not supportable in the long term.
What Next for 'Rebuild By Design'?
The Rebuild By Design competition attracted plenty of hoopla thanks to its $920 million and the critical need for projects that protect coastal cities as sea levels rise. Now that the winners have been picked, how will they deliver on their promise?
Philadelphia Mayor Nutter Touts Planning Legacy
Mayor Michael Nutter believes that his administration leaves "a template for how future development unfolds in Philadelphia" as one of its legacies.

Tampa Bay's New Cookie Cutter High Rises
With more than ten new residential towers rising around Tampa Bay, development is booming, but why aren't the new buildings more reflective of the community and environment?
Chicago Cubs Begin Renovations on Historic Wrigley Field
The controversial 1060 Project to renovate the Home of the Chicago Cubs broke ground over the weekend on a renovation proposal that will allow a mix of uses on the ballpark property.

Creative Placemaking: Preserve, Repair, Intensify
Many cities have long been investing in art and culture, marrying it to placemaking, and generating extraordinary local transformations. Hazel Borys offers up a little inspiration from an art opening this week, and a few pointers for urbanists.

Optimism for the Suburbs
The Bacon's Rebellion blog focuses on the potential of suburbs to meet the demands of a growing population with different lifestyles and expectations for their communities than previous generations.
Exploring the 'Finesse of the Avenue'
In his fourth "place-decoding" essay from France, Chuck Wolfe illustrates how a traditional placemaking intervention is especially powerful when underlying urban fundamentals align.
Study Compares Job Access by Transit in 46 U.S. Metropolitan Areas
The Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota has released the Access Across America: Transit 2014 report.

The Downtown Dystopia and the 'Continued March of Sameness'
Architecture critic Aaron Betsky provides a new take urban dystopia: bland and homogenous. The antidote, he argues, can be found on the edges.

On the Importance of the Human Scale in Walkable Cities
Instead of density for density's sake (or for smart growth's sake), F. Kaid Benfield argues that the human scale is the key to walkable smart growth.
How to Revitalize a 'Stuck' Neighborhood?
Congress Heights, in Washington D.C., has suffered decades of neglect. Now, city planners and activists want to transform it into a mixed-use, mixed-income success story. What if it doesn't work? What if it works too well?

Report: Transit Oriented Development Leads the Market in Major Metros
A report released last week by Cushman & Wakefield has won a lot of attention from media outlets covering large-scale development market trends. Among the report's findings: growing cities need to better support transit-oriented development.
Massive MiamiCentral Train Station Arriving Soon for All Aboard Florida
Part infrastructure, part urban development—MiamiCentral is moving ahead quickly as an urban hub on the south end of the All Aboard Florida high-speed rail project.

What an Innocuous Piece of Plastic Says About Our Suburban Future
Suburban Starbucks models are bumming urbanists out. But they also served as a nice allegory of what the future there might hold. Scott Doyon's latest blog post explains.
'History of the Present' Series Examines Profound Urban Transformations
Emerging from a half century of dictatorship, can Myanmar's principal city be a model of sustainable, democratic development?
Evidence of Peak Sprawl in the New York Region
"A new report out of Rutgers University reveals that since 2010, the fringes of the New York region have lost population as the core has grown," according to an article by Stephen Miller.
Miami Moving Forward with Showy, $1.5 Billion Worldcenter Development
Last minute changes allowed the $1.5 billion Worldcenter development to move forward into the planning stage.
Making the Most of Cleveland's 'Opportunity Corridor'
Officials planning the divisive Opportunity Corridor in Cleveland are working to catch land use considerations up with transportation considerations for a proposed road connection to cut through the city's East Side.
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.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
Custer County Colorado
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)