Urban Development
Is International Immigration the Solution for Declining Cities?
With researching suggesting international immigration can kick-start local economies, cities across America are contemplating efforts at attracting, and retaining, immigrants. But are immigrants the silver bullet to revive declining cities?
New York's Small Apartments Are a Big Hit Among Developers
A pilot project spearheaded by the Bloomberg administration to develop a new housing model for the City’s "growing small-household population," has attracted a big response from interested housing developers.
How Zoning Might Make or Break New Streetcar Lines
As St. Louis and Portland speed along with new streetcar developments, Yonah Freemark considers how zoning may determine the success of one, and the failure of another.
Homes of Billionaires Rise to New Heights
New York City's supertall skyscrapers court billionaires, selling prime real estate in the sky for tens of millions of dollars. The latest trophy building, One57, will soon become the city's tallest building with residences.
Together, Urban Design and Planning Can Brighten the Future of Indian Cities
Rapid urbanization in India will create unplanned cities with poor quality of life unless steps are taken to integrate urban design and planning with governance structures, and primitive planning methods are revamped with the latest technology.
Solving Our Urban Challenges Requires Speaking Openly About Density
With cities such as Vancouver struggling with housing affordability, limited developable land, and residents resistant to change, Bob Ransford suggests we need open and honest debate about density and the big picture of development.
Open Transit Design: Why Stations Designed for Non-Transit Users Are Most Successful
How many people go to Grand Central Terminal just for the experience? Peter David Cavaluzzi, FAIA describes a new approach to transit station design that, in its desired appeal to non-transit users, is indebted to the great stations of the past.
What Makes a City Smart?
Does a smart city have to pursue sustainability goals? Does it have to utilize the internet to involve citizens? Boyd Cohen tries to put some parameters around the discussion of smart cities - a nebulous term that means many things to many people.
Seattle's Clashing, Confusing, and Disjointed Grid
Seattle is a city of grids (plural). Downtown, alone, contains three, making for some pretty interesting transportation challenges. Some argue it's simply part of what makes the city livable.
The 50-Foot Commute Takes Off Across America
Jeff Khau examines the rise in the teleworking population and what this demographic shift means for cities.
How Andres Duany Envisions the Future by 'Translating' the Present
Rick Hampson explores the New Urbanist vision for how cities will be designed and planned over the next 30 years, as told by the movement's co-founder, Andres Duany.
For DC and NY, Efforts to Improve Rail Stations Take Opposite Tracks
While the decades long effort to augment and improve New York's atrocious Penn Station have stalled, D.C. is moving ahead with plans to expand Union Station and redevelop the land above its tracks. Fred A. Bernstein looks at the two projects.
On Authenticity and 'Traditional-Style' Development
Scott Doyon takes on the oft-expressed gripe that Traditional Neighborhood Development somehow feels fake. Doyon sees value in incorporating the collective wisdom learned over generations, regardless of whether it's reminiscent of another time.
Is L.A. TOD Purposely Pushing out Low-Income Residents and Local Businesses?
A protest last week through downtown Los Angeles was meant to raise awareness of local activists' concerns that Los Angeles County Metro is displacing working class people and small businesses as it develops land adjacent to its stations.
Study Calls Into Question Walmart's Economic Development Bona Fides
A study just published in Economic Development Quarterly documents the geographical destruction on local businesses wrought by a new Walmart store, and raises questions about its long-term impact on sales tax revenues, reports Nate Berg.
America's Cultural Invasion of the Champs-Elysees
When the next iteration of the oldest military parade in the world celebrates the French Republic by marching down the Champs-Elysees, as it invariably does every Bastille Day, it will pass through what is increasingly becoming an American mall.
Tide Recedes in Spain's Urban Migration
'Rurbanismo,' as it's called, describes the reversal of historic migration patterns now engulfing Spain, as a generations-old trend of rural-to-city movement has been reversed.
(Stalled) Projects and Their (Unfulfilled) Promises
Across the U.S., cities bear the scars of giant projects stalled by the economic crisis. Too often, the public ends up with the short end of the stick.
How Does Placemaking Pay?
Hazel Borys compiles an extraordinary list of studies quantifying the role of livable, walkable places in building equity, city coffers, health, and social capital.
Setback for BIG's Angular NYC Premier
Citing a lack of affordable housing, a Manhattan Community Board has sent architecture's hot young firm, Denmark-base Bjarke Ingels Group (aka BIG), back to the drawing board to amend the design for their premier New York project.
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.
Yukon Government
Caltrans
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Norman, Oklahoma
City of Portland
City of Laramie