Urban Development

Transformation Continues in Boston's South End

Once blighted with boarding houses and abandoned buildings, Boston's already gentrified South End is still an ongoing project in hip urban transformation.

February 7, 2006 - The Boston Globe

A Growing Water Crisis In Rural Arizona Desert

New development explodes in the underregulated rural Arizona desert, as developers realize that a severe lack of water won't prevent development.

February 6, 2006 - The Arizona Republic

Las Vegas Mega Developer Jim Rhodes Profiled

Jim Rhodes may soon be the Nevada's largest home builder. His developments are popular, but opponents and some previous homebuyers are wary.

February 6, 2006 - The Arizona Republic

A Raw Deal For Harlem

A $200-million hotel project, touted as the first major tourist lodging in the neighborhood since 1966, drifts into obscurity amid corruption charges aimed at the developer.

February 6, 2006 - The Village Voice

Do Mega Malls Improve Communities?

As mega-malls begin to emerge in established communities, communities have mixed feelings. Some think the development will bring traffic. Others look to increasing property values.

February 5, 2006 - The Los Angeles Times

Student Housing As Commodity

Aussie investment corporation ING's $100 million deal nets 90 percent of U. Conn's off-campus student housing.

February 5, 2006 - University of Connecticut Daily Campus

Gentrification On 86th Street

For years, Lexington and 86th, considered the crossroads of the Upper East Side, has resisted gentrification. But those days are over, as a family squabble has been settled and a major mixed-use development project will replace some 1920s tenements.

February 5, 2006 - The New York Times

In East Boston, Diversity Is The Attraction

A new greenway, loft development, affordability, and cultural diversity are all are attracting homebuyers to East Boston.

February 4, 2006 - The Boston Globe

China's Motor City

The son of Hitler's architect has been hired to design the 300,000-person 'Detroit of the East' in Changchun.

February 4, 2006 - Spiegel Online

Growth Threatens America's Coasts

In an eight-part series, Gannett compiles three months of analysis to expose the serious problems of unchecked growth along the country's shores, along with a host of counterproductive public policies.

February 2, 2006 - Gannett News Service

Remaking America's First Suburbs

In this op-ed, Bruce Katz and Robert Puentes argue that America's older, inner-ring, first suburbs -- like Nassau County -- must embrace a new vision for remaking themselves.

February 1, 2006 - The New York Times

'Green Harbor', Urban Ecotopia

The alter-ego of the Inner Harbor's 'hardscape', Baltimore's nearby Middle Branch harbor is set to become a model sustainable neighborhood, complete with hiking trails and alternative energy sources, if developers' visions go according to plan.

February 1, 2006 - Baltimore City Paper

Reinforcing Southern California's Polycentricity Through New Suburbanism

A re-awakening of interest in walkable urban environments in suburban locations? This trend mostly revolves around the pre-war downtowns of small Southern California cities that grew into suburban bedroom communities in the 1950s and 1960s.

January 31, 2006 - The Los Angeles Times

A Market Response To Eminent Domain

BB&T, the country's ninth-largest bank, announces that it will not make commercial loans to developers who plan private projects on land seized via eminent domain.

January 30, 2006 - Winston-Salem Journal

Linking Housing And Transportation To Define Housing Affordability

This brief describes a new information tool developed by the Urban Markets Initiative to quantify, for the first time, the impact of transportation costs on the affordability of housing choices.

January 30, 2006 - The Brookings Institution

Eminent Domain Is Unfair

Tom Thompson argues that eminent domain has been abused throughout U.S. history.

January 29, 2006 - The Seattle Times

Home Depot Meets Hudson Square

The mega-merchandiser of home furnishings is looking to cash in on Lower Manhattan's residential renaissance, with Trinity Church as facilitator.

January 28, 2006 - The Slatin Report

American Suburbia Sprawls Its Way To India

With rampant globalization and growth, Indian architects and developers are using as many established planning models as they can -- including 'New Jersey Suburban'.

January 28, 2006 - Hindustan Times

It's Sprawl For Nothing

In an excerpt from her new book, 'The Place You Love Is Gone: Progress Took It Away', author Melissa Holbrook Pierson offers her lament for a sprawling nation.

January 27, 2006 - Orion

The Next Great (Sub)Urban Park?

At 1,300 acres, the Orange County Great Park, to be built over the ruins of the El Toro Marine base, may bring greater identity to the sprawling region.

January 26, 2006 - The Los Angeles Times

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.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.