United States
New Orleans Sets New Rules for Public Housing
With great success, the city is on a fast track to transform six Great Depression-era public housing projects - totaling 4,000 units - into mixed-income housing. "People will be watching New Orleans closely," observes Linda Couch.
New MIT Data Analysis Tool Aims To Rationalize Planning
Andres Sevstuk, lecturer at MIT and head of the City Form Research Group describes how the new Urban Network Analysis Toolbox is, "taking a much more rigorous approach to look at the work of urban design."
City Engagement Via Technology
Cities across the U.S. are increasingly looking to technology to improve the public participation process and increase the ways citizens can engage with the government. Chief technical officers are becoming more common.
When Poverty Grows in the City, Poverty Grows in the Suburbs
Metropolitan poverty spreads from cities to the suburbs. This post from Metro Trends explains.
On Spending for High Speed Rail
This post from The Infrastructurist looks at recent arguments for and against high speed rail projects in the U.S. through the lens of spending.
Transportation Debate Awaits Congress Next
A post at ASLA's The Dirt predicts that the next "crisis" to be debated in Congress will be that of the need for a comprehensive transportation bill to repair this country's "vulnerable infrastructure."
Guggenheim City Laboratory Arrives in NYC
The BMW Guggenheim Lab is a traveling exhibition that will visit nine cities in the next six years, providing a public space to explore the challenges of today's cities.
Minorities Move Up Social Ladder, Stay in Poorer Neighborhoods
A new study shows how even as minorities move up the social ladder, they tend to live in poorer neighborhoods, reports Joanna Lin for California Watch.
Urban Multifamily Leading Real Estate Market Opportunities
Former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneors, now the executive chairman of CityView, makes the case for urban markets as the driving force of the real estate market (including investment from foreign investors) in the near future.
Your Own Privatopia
Attorney Evan McKenzie explores the world of homeowners' associations and common interest developments, which he says are creating an unfortunate layer of private government over unsuspecting homeowners.
American Embassies Undergo Design Scrutiny
Designing the U.S. embassy abroad is any architect's dream. But a crash between safety imperatives and beautiful design often results in "a dull series of near-identical, boxy bunkers," says The Economist.
The Fields' Efficiency: How Innovation Outshines the Sun
At a two-acre site located 80 miles west of Ann Arbor, an engineering major at the Univ. of Michigan installed the state's largest solar farm with movable trackers that increase the amount of energy captured by almost 10%.
54.5 MPG by 2025
In a remarkable show of cooperation between the auto industry and the administration, the two agreed upon the highest increase since the advent of fuel efficiency standards. Current standards require 35.5 mpg by 2016 - safeguards exist for problems.
Our River, Ourselves
The moribund state of the Los Angeles River reflects the zeitgeist of the city that it runs through, says The Economist. A mile wide but an inch deep, revitalization proposals are too conceptual at best and too feeble at worst.
Bicycle Usage Jumps 14% in NYC
According to Mayor Bloomberg's latest press release, nearly 19,000 cyclists populate the streets of NYC on a daily basis - that's 2,300 more than last spring. The growing popularity makes the soon to be unveiled bike-sharing system looks promising.
Boston's Transit Achieves New Balance with Bike-Sharing Program
Mayor Thomas Menino declared that "the car is no longer king in Boston" as the Hubway bike-sharing system made its debut this week, putting the city abreast with Washington D.C.
The $94 Billion Annual Funding Gap in Transportation
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released a report this week that offers a bleak outlook at the nation's surface transportation infrastructure - just in time for the imminent Aug. 2 deadline to raise the debt ceiling.
Fruitful Legal Battles Over Water Supply
In Kern County, Calif., trendy fruits like pomegranate are at the center of a number of contentious lawsuits over water resource management.
Changing Cities Reflect New Suburban Values Of White Migrants
LA Times Columnist Gregory Rodriguez notes that cities from LA to D.C. and even Atlanta are losing black and even Latino and Asian populations to more affluent whites migrating from the suburbs, who take their values with them.
Transportation and Civil Rights
Transportation is increasingly a major civil rights issue, according to The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, which argues that federal funding disproportionally serves car drivers.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
