Urban Development

With Los Angeles embarking on the "largest transit expansion in the United States," a new report looks at ways the city can preserve critical affordable housing in areas ripe for transit-oriented economic development.

June 13, 2012 - Better! Cities & Towns

In a pattern being repeated across Canada's major cities, office tenants are willing to pay a premium to be located close to transit in Vancouver and buildings located only a few blocks away or in suburban office parks are seeing a rise in vacancies.

June 12, 2012 - The Globe and Mail

Though "generally cited as an example of all the things you don’t want a city to be," Karrie Jacobs finds reason to believe that Texas's third largest city has taken to heart the "country’s newfound passion for all things urban."

June 12, 2012 - Metropolis

One family in Taipei has rallied support for "victims of urban renewal" after the city demolished their home to make way for high-rise apartments, Loa Lok-Sin reports.

June 12, 2012 - Taipei Times

Aaron M. Renn looks at Chicago's struggles over the last decade - one that saw the city "increasingly falling behind its large urban brethren" - and asks whether its aspirations for becoming a global city are delusional.

June 11, 2012 - City Journal

Although those at the top of the city's political pyramid have been mum about the fate of the Jones Falls Expressway, which just turned 50 years old, a group of Baltimore's entrepreneurs are pushing to rethink the area now occupied by the roadway.

June 11, 2012 - Urbanite

Scattered-site rental management is something nonprofits have long found to be a challenge. But there are ways of pulling it off, and those who have done it tell Shelterforce how, and why it’s worth it.

June 9, 2012 - Shelterforce Magazine

With "guys in suits" having replaced the "artists, weirdos and blue-collar families" that surrounded Adam Davidson while growing up in the Village in the 1970s, he wonders if mom-and-pop shops can survive the neighborhood's extreme gentrification.

June 8, 2012 - The New York Times

Geoff Dyer points out why the difference between the typical strip mall and the multi-way boulevard may be more subtle than you think.

June 8, 2012 - PlaceShakers

Say what you will about the gentrification of Brownstone Brooklyn, but there's no question that Everett and Evelyn Ortner's regard for the neighborhood's historical treasures had a significant influence on its evolution over the past 50 years.

June 7, 2012 - The New York Times

Yesterday, New York City's Planning Commission voted nearly unanimously to support a slightly reduced version of New York University's controversial expansion plans for two superblocks in Greenwich Village, reports Tom Stoelker.

June 7, 2012 - The Architect's Newspaper Blog

Chinese developers recently completed their controversial replication of the Austrian village of Hallstatt, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, reports Molly Oswaks.

June 7, 2012 - Gizmodo

John Yung traces Cincinnati's dramatic comeback over the last decade, and gives credit to the Center City Plan developed in 2002 by HR&A and Cooper, Robertson & Partners for laying the groundwork for the city's subsequent revitalization.

June 6, 2012 - UrbanCincy

Key to the upswing in the Brooklyn rental market was the failure of the last wave of building condominiums - providing a ready supply that only needed to be converted to rentals. The sale of a Williamsburg building set a record outside of Manhattan.

June 5, 2012 - The New York Times - Business Day

Hazel Borys argues that "the payback of livable places really can’t be calculated in dollars, or pounds of fat or carbon, or even hours. The payback of place is passion."

June 5, 2012 - PlaceShakers

Matt Shaw updates the status of New York's efforts to catch up with the global rise in super-tall residential skyscrapers.

June 4, 2012 - The Architect's Newspaper

Stalled for years by the recession, Sam Allen looks at the prospects for the revival of ambitious plans to remake L.A.'s Grand Avenue.

June 4, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

Thomas Kaplan and Danny Hakim report on the collapse of New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's $4 billion plan to create the country’s largest convention center and a casino in Queens.

June 4, 2012 - The New York Times

Add this one to the "This is how they spend my tax dollars?!" file. Scott Huler exposes a ploy by legislators from 20 coastal North Carolina counties to outlaw effectively measuring and predicting the potential rise in sea level.

June 4, 2012 - Scientific American Plugged In Blog

It used to be that visibility was the most important factor in siting a business. This may no longer be the case, argues Kevin Klinkenberg, as smartphones make location irrelevant.

June 2, 2012 - New Urbanism Blog