Urban Development

What Will Cambridge's New Affordable Housing Overlay Do?
The policy is aimed at reducing the cost of building affordable housing and helping affordable housing developers to better compete on property acquisitions.

NYC Transit Needs Its Commuters Back
With ridership still at less than half of pre-pandemic levels, the region's transit agencies face billions of dollars in budget shortfalls after federal assistance runs out.

What Is Urban Renewal?
Ostensibly intended to improve "blighted" neighborhoods and provide better housing conditions, urban renewal often involved displacement and the wholesale destruction of urban communities.

D.C. Adds New Safety Requirement in Wake of Recent Collapses
A series of incidents including the fatal collapse of a condo building in Surfside, Florida have prompted the District to implement safety enhancements to its building safety review.

Chicago Faces its Own Climate Challenges
Historically stable Lake Michigan has seen its water levels fluctuate dramatically over the last decade, posing increasingly urgent threats to lakeside property and causing severe droughts and flooding.

New Study Ranks the Urban Heat Island Effect in U.S. Cities
A new analysis by Climate Central evaluates the intensity of urban heat islands in cities around the United States—New Orleans tops the list.

The World's Planning Schools Joined Hands in Shanghai in 2001
The Shanghai Statement creating the Global Planning Education Association Network (GPEAN) was signed by ten planning school associations at the closing ceremony of the 1st World Planning Schools Congress at Tongji University, 20 years ago this week.

To Make Cities More Livable, Get Rid of Pavement
Paved surfaces take up close to a third of space in U.S. cities, polluting waterways and contributing to the urban heat island effect.

Locals Vehemently Oppose Venice Beach Homeless Housing
The controversies about homelessness in what was once a beach community full of hippies and surfers has boiled over in response to a large proposed development of supportive housing on a surface parking lot owned by the city.

12 Developments That Will Change Houston Forever
Major upcoming projects include Hewlett Packard's new global headquarters, a 'boardwalk district' in Katy, and massive housing developments.

Converting Unused Parking Garages to Affordable Housing
As garage operators find their businesses increasingly unsustainable, some are looking to affordable housing as the logical next incarnation of their buildings.

Documenting L.A.'s Reclaimed Industrial Sites
Community activists across the city have fought to clean up, preserve, and enhance former industrial sites as parks, community gardens, and green spaces.

Atlanta Highway Cap Project Gets New Life
The city council voted to apply for a $1 million federal grant to study the potential benefits of building a park over downtown freeways.

Denver Reduces Parking Requirements for Affordable Housing
The zoning change will significantly reduce the cost of building affordable housing developments.

The Death and Life of the 'Death of the City' Narrative
At the onset of the pandemic, certain media figures were quick to jump on the bandwagon of anti-urbanism. While many of the anti-urban predictions failed to come about—neither did the problems of cities disappear.

Report: 'Housing as a Commodity' Increases Residential Segregation
The growth of institutionalized housing has led to growing inequality between Black and white homeownership rates in the Twin Cities, new research shows.

Army Corps Rescinds Permits for Massive Master Planned Community in Arizona
A plan to conjure 28,000 new homes from the landscape fed by the San Pedro River in Southern Arizona is once again on the wrong side of regulators.

Updated: Strong Towns: Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Would 'Make our Infrastructure Crisis Worse'
To some, the agreement promises too much funding for traditional infrastructure programs rather than 'adaptations and innovations.'

Surfside Collapse Highlights Florida's 'Unique Vulnerabilities'
A coastal geologist urges state leaders and residents to start planning for 'managed retreat' away from the coastal communities most vulnerable to sea level rise.

Opinion: Bring Back the Neighborhood Corner Store
A call for zoning reforms that legalize commercial buildings in residential neighborhoods in Seattle—a building type and land use that has fallen out of favor all over the United States.
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.
Smith Gee Studio
City of Charlotte
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
US High Speed Rail Association
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)