Urban Development
Three Parcels Donated for Affordable Housing Development by the City of Seattle
The city of Seattle took advantage of a new state law to donate three underused parcels to affordable housing developers.

Planning New 'Cultural Districts' in Minneapolis
Planners are giving shape to one of the potentially controversial aspects of the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan.

Jersey City Building More Apartment Than Manhattan
And other perhaps surprising data from the multi-family housing development industry.

Anti-Development Forces Strike at L.A.'s Transit Oriented Communities Program
There's a new front in the city of L.A.'s ongoing conflict between anti-development forces and efforts to add density at and around transit.

University Redevelopment Plan Includes For-Sale Housing
St. Louis University is helping stabilize the neighborhood located near its medical campus—instead of expanding the campus into property it owns around the campus, it is building houses to sell.

D.C. Will Say Goodbye to RFK Stadium
It's last sporting tenant departed in 2017, and the District has large redevelopment plans for the site, but the decision to finally raze RFK Stadium has only recently been made official.

Research: Distance Matters More Than Multi-Modal Trips for Reducing Carbon Emissions
European researchers have published a new study in the journal Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment that might be a hard pill to swallow for some transit advocates.

A New Form-Based Zoning Code and the 'Conflicted Soul' of the Suburbs
The new form-based zoning code under consideration in the affluent Philadelphia suburb of Lower Merion "has something to teach Philadelphia and other big cities about how to organize density smartly," according to Inga Saffron.

28,000 Homes Planned for Desert Southeast of Tucson
A master planned community would add 70,000 new residents to a city of 5,000 located southeast of Tucson, Arizona. Local and regional environmental groups don't think the environmental risks of the development have been properly considered.

Portland Adjusts Residential Infill Plan to Minimize Displacement
Portland wants to add density but doesn't want to displace current residents of low- and middle-income neighborhoods.

Better Urban Planning for Better Public Health (In the Real World)
A researcher at the University of Sydney in Australia offers three recommendations for planners to better negotiate the real world of politics and governance to help create healthier communities.

Grand Canyon-Adjacent Development Revises Plans to Pave Roads Through National Forest
Developers want to build roads through the Kaibab National Forest to serve a controversial development, including a resort and hundreds of homes, planned for a location just South of the Grand Canyon.

Low Income People of Color More Likely to Suffer Extreme Heat
A recently published report finds more evidence to elevate heat as a matter of environmental justice.

A Transit-Oriented Regional Growth Plan
The Vision 2050 plan, which charts the growth for King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Kitsap counties in Washington State, would focus almost all the growth meant to accommodate 1.8 million new residents inside urban areas.

New Research Ties Lack of Density to Lack of Affordability in California
New research using the Terner Center California Residential Land Use Survey also connects demographic trends to housing development opposition.

New Density Planned as Affordable Housing, Growth Management Tool in Durham, North Carolina
The City Council of Durham, North Carolina has approved changes to the city's master plan, first approved in 2005, to allow new forms of density in residential neighborhoods proximate to the city's downtown urban core.

Unlocking the Market for Affordable Homeownership with Private Capital
Charles Loveman, executive director of Heritage Housing Partners, explains the historical role that subsidized demand played in spurring housing production and the value of low to moderate-income affordable homeownership development.

Transforming the Waterfront into Baltimore's 'Blue Green Heart'
Dutch design firm West 8 recently won a competition to rethink an 11-mile stretch of the Baltimore's waterfront, not to be confused with a $5.5 billion project to redevelop Port Covington.

In Tucson, Sweltering Heat Threatens the Most Vulnerable
When the temperatures become dangerous in this desert city, not everyone has the option to retreat to air-conditioned spaces to wait it out.

L.A. County's Sustainability Plan Crafted With a Little Help From University Friends
Los Angeles County's new, ambitious sustainability plan was crafted in collaboration with the significant resources available in the region, including one of the nation's finest public universities.
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)