Urban Development

Richey Piiparinen discusses the "Frankenstein effects" of place-making, in which, he argues, the diversity of people and place that attracts the creative class is eventually forced out by those in search of the "highest and best use."

September 4, 2012 - New Geography

As real estate prices reach stratospheric levels, real estate professionals are banking on the artistic value of the world's trophy properties to explain the surge, reports James B. Stewart.

September 4, 2012 - The New York Times

Urban gardening is sprouting to life across America, but urban locales in the developing world "have incorporated horticulture into their urban planning" for decades. In Africa, urbanization is threatening these essential parts of the food system.

September 4, 2012 - NPR

An expanding number of cities across the U.S. are looking to attract urban casinos, with the hope that further development and money (tax revenues to fill drained city coffers) will follow.

September 2, 2012 - Next American City

Lew Sichelman reports on the lofty goals being pursued by a new $6.2 billion live/play/work development known as Barangaroo - planned for a 54-acre site in East Darling Harbor - which aims to redefine Sydney.

August 31, 2012 - Urban Land

A 52-acre development planned for Washington, D.C.'s isolated Southwest Quadrant hopes to create a 21st century waterfront by embracing the elements that have contributed to creating lively urban waterfronts for centuries, reports Kriston Capps.

August 31, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Three years in the making, approval nears for Plan Cincinnati - the city's first comprehensive plan to be completed in the last 32 years. Randy A. Simes shares the details of the plan, which focuses growth around 40 walkable neighborhood centers.

August 30, 2012 - UrbanCincy

Bob Ransford argues that the policies that have shaped Vancouver's streets and skyline over the last decades into a global icon of planning and design are an accomplishment of style over substance that fail to look at how people inhabit buildings.

August 30, 2012 - The Vancouver Sun

The rapid development of Miami's Brickell neighborhood has left many residents without proper access to open space, a circumstance some are trying to remedy, despite astronomical land costs.

August 30, 2012 - NPR

As the city of Bordeaux, France, makes plans to move up the list of major European cities, it's calling on a multidisciplinary design competition for ways to revitalize its city from the top down by integrating "natural areas."

August 30, 2012 - The Design Observer Group

Bill Lindeke discusses the history of Minneapolis' Skyways and argues why we shouldn't celebrate a system that he believes is failing its downtown.

August 29, 2012 - twin city sidewalks

Plans to develop eastern Long Island as a thriving tech hub with "bustling downtowns and new apartments for young families" are facing a messy obstacle, the absence of "a basic element of a modern civilization: sewers."

August 29, 2012 - The Wall Street Journal

Often times, the community development field and health philanthropy have worked in the same neighborhoods, but separately. This is changing, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Marjorie Paloma told Shelterforce how.

August 28, 2012 - Shelterforce Magazine

Will Doig discusses the increasing speed at which urban bohemias are colonized, popularized, and gentrified. Does the rapid transformation of urban subculture into mainstream culture, mark the end of urban bohemia?

August 28, 2012 - Salon

Yes, there are critics of the High Line, and this is a particularly strident one. Accusing the park not only of gentrification of Manhattan's West Chelsea, Jeremiah Moss attributes the High Line's popularity to transforming NYC into Disney World.

August 27, 2012 - The New York Times - Opinion

Nate Berg looks at how Hong Kong's unique pedestrian infrastructure of elevated walkways and underground tunnels has affected the city's use of public and private spaces, and shifted urban behaviors.

August 27, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Suffering from widespread blight from foreclosures and absentee owners, a new "unofficial" Facebook page lets Atlanta residents play code compliance officer.

August 26, 2012 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

As the end of the Bloomberg Era in New York draws to a close, The Architect's Newspaper goes agency by agency exploring how the Mayor has steered the forces of NYC real estate to meet goals for a cleaner, greener, and more equitable city.

August 26, 2012 - The Architect's Newspaper

The number of super-tall residential buildings continues to grow globally, with top floor residences fetching nine-figure prices. Historically, the world's tallest buildings housed offices.

August 26, 2012 - The Wall Street Journal

Based on a range of data, including 19 different components, a new study examining cities located on river deltas has determined that Shanghai is the most vulnerable to major flooding.

August 25, 2012 - BBC News