Urban Development

With a new plan called "Connecting El Paso", the Texas city is on track for a transit-oriented future. Kaid Benfield says the plan is "nothing less than a comprehensive guide to smart growth design and implementation."

January 25, 2011 - NRDC Blog

The Boston Globe discovers that midsize towns across Massachusetts are ditching the mall and revitalizing their downtowns.

January 25, 2011 - The Boston Globe

Officials in New York are pushing a plan known as Vision 2020, which is aimed at restoring the city's waterfront areas and creating new public spaces. It also hopes to create preconditions for waterfront industries and businesses to grow again.

January 25, 2011 - The Gotham Gazette

Redevelopment agencies are vital to job creation and necessary for central cities to stem suburban job sprawl, claims Gerald Metcalf, executive director of a SF urban think tank (SPUR), countering CA Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed elimination of them.

January 24, 2011 - San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday Insight

Toronto is growing up, up, up, with a very hot downtown condominium market, including a number of very small (500 sq. ft.) apartments for young professionals.

January 23, 2011 - The National Post

The Governor's Highway Safety Association released a report citing an uptick in pedestrian fatalities in the first half of 2010 and speculates on all sorts of reasons for this except poor road design.

January 21, 2011 - Greater Greater Washington

According to this article in Area Development Online, developing a brownfield is a no-brainer: infrastructure is in place, governments have redevelopment funds to support it, and "the PR flip is huge."

January 21, 2011 - Area Development Online

Arlington, Virginia is using housing and redevelopment to repair the superblock-dominated street grid of Crystal City.

January 20, 2011 - Under One Roof

In Providence, Rhode Island, a team of young developers are breathing new life into an old factory complex. But it's not your typical condo conversion.

January 19, 2011 - Metropolis

The City of New Orleans is about to undertake a massive reconstruction effort that will reshape and rebuild its entire school system.

January 18, 2011 - Metropolis

Sprawl is seen as an unfortunate reality in Toronto, and one that some fear it's too late to unwrite.

January 18, 2011 - The Toronto Star

British Prime Minister David Cameron wants to build a Silicon Valley-like "tech city" at the site of the 2012 Summer Olympics. But some question whether his plan can work.

January 18, 2011 - Wired UK

Tao Rugkhapan reports on the etiology traffic accidents which are becoming all to common in Bangkok as vehicle speeds increase along with lane tolerances and the number of elevated expressways.

January 15, 2011 - This Big City

Prince Charles is planning to build a 15,000-person shanty town in India, modeled after Dharavi, the Mumbai settlement featured in the movie "Slumdog Millionaire".

January 14, 2011 - Daily Mail

Devastating floods have inundated Brisbane, Australia. Some say the city's sprawling development pattern fueled the destruction.

January 14, 2011 - Grist

Despite laws meant to protect open space and limit sprawl development, developers in Washington have found a legal way to get major housing projects approved in Washington.

January 14, 2011 - Crosscut

Urbanization is taking up a rapid pace in China. Though much of the planning going on is of the cookie-cutter variety, some say the Chinese need to pay more attention to growing their cities vertically.

January 14, 2011 - What Matters

A new musical has been written about Robert Moses and his impact on New York City. Robert A. Caro, Moses' Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, attends a rehearsal.

January 13, 2011 - The New York Times

January 13, 2011 - Tim Halbur

With a fleeing population, Youngstown, Ohio was ahead of the current trend on "shrinking cities." So what can planners learn from Youngstown's example?

January 13, 2011 - New Urban Network