Urban Development

Our annual list of the 10 best planning, design, and development websites represents some of the top online resources for news, information and research on the built environment.

March 17, 2011 - Abhijeet Chavan

A proposed D.C. development would place hundreds of apartments above a store, but other projects emphasize parking, not pedestrian-friendly streets. Chicago and New York also face Walmart campaigns.

March 17, 2011 - New Urban Network

Kansas City's Plan Commission has denied a 55-acre redevelopment centered around a downtown plaza - a project that had the approval of the Planning Dept. and the local AIA Chapter, but evidently not the community.

March 16, 2011 - The Architect's Newspaper

In the coming days and years, Japan needs to address a host of issues related to earthquake recover and design, including damaged infrastructure, population and housing, energy, the economy and global impact.

March 16, 2011 - Architizer

Mayor Bloomberg has revealed plans to transform New York City's waterfront, calling it a sixth borough. The city envisions new parks, piers, and promenades across the entire city's waterfront.

March 15, 2011 - DNAInfo

Three economists with an understanding of the industry say that construction has finally hit bottom across the board (retail, housing, office) and is poised to come back with double-digit growth in 2011.

March 15, 2011 - Urban Land

Larry Beasley, Vancouver's former chief city planner, was hired to help develop Abu Dhabi's very ambitious Plan 2030.

March 14, 2011 - Regarding Place Magazine

In this article from Next American City the author argues for more variety in U.S. housing options in the wake of the mortgage debacle.

March 14, 2011 - Next American City

Port-au-Prince, the devastated capital of Haiti, is far from recovery. But as it and the rest of the country tries to rebound, some are thinking creatively about how best to rebuild the city's center.

March 14, 2011 - Citiwire

Timothy Egan describes growing American ethnoburbs, or "entire cities" (or suburbs) "dominated by a nonwhite ethnic group," and their implications for politics and power.

March 14, 2011 - New York Times

The LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) guidelines have existed for some time now, but are getting a new focus with an exhibit in Chicago and the launch of the first comprehensive city plan to include LEED-ND guidelines.

March 14, 2011 - New Urban Network

Oregon's Metro has developed a measure for transit-orientation, which uses 3 dimensions to convey the relative diversity in form and activity across the Portland region.

March 13, 2011 - Metro News

Edging out places like Beverly Hills, the town of Aspen, Colorado, has seen its property values on a consistent rise, making it the most expensive town in America.

March 12, 2011 - The Wall Street Journal

Architects and planners in New Delhi are collaborating to create three new visions of the city, all based around the concept of sustainability.

March 11, 2011 - Frontline

Several factors are leading to the end of commercial strip development while simultaneously leading to more and more town centers and mixed-use facilities.

March 10, 2011 - UrbanLand

A new book of photography compares the legacies of two modernist cities: Brasilia and Chandigarh.

March 10, 2011 - Azure

Drastic flooding inundated Queensland, Australia, and damaged many of the city's buildings. As recovery begins, some are rethinking the city's development patterns.

March 10, 2011 - Architectural Record

A huge mall in China -- the largest in the world -- has just a 1% occupancy rate.

March 10, 2011 - Gadling

WebUrbanist.com has identified 11 of the most interesting modern urban rooftops in the world.

March 9, 2011 - Web Urbanist

Columbus, Ohio has been experimenting with zoning overlays, which do not change the underlying land use regulations but add a set of form-based regulations focused on livability.

March 9, 2011 - Columbus Dispatch