United States

Economic crises tend to manifest themselves in specific design trends, especially in the field of architecture. This latest recession has spurred the age of Do-It-Yourself architecture and urbanism.

February 1, 2011 - Places

Conservative political and media rhetoric aimed at "fat cat" public employees scapegoats middle-class workers for the economic crisis and threatens to undermine public welfare at all levels, write Max Fraad Wolff and Richard D. Wolff.

February 1, 2011 - Truthout

Artists tend to flock to big cities where their art can be bought and appreciated, but economic hard times are sending artists fleeing towards cheaper rents on homes and studio space.

February 1, 2011 - Utne Reader

What makes effective transit-oriented development? Transportation planner Alan Huynh makes a good argument for the proximity to a cup of coffee as a defining characteristic of quality TOD.

February 1, 2011 - The Alan Note

William D. Eggers says the government is giving up the costly infrastructure investments in favor of cloud computing, and the Feds are leading the way.

February 1, 2011 - Governing Magazine

A national survey of independent businesses found that those in communities with an active "buy local" campaign experienced significantly stronger revenue growth in 2010 compared to those located in areas without one.

February 1, 2011 - New Rules Project

Reporter Leon Neyfakh digs deep into the architectural battle between New Urbanism and Landscape Urbanism, saying it is a war for the future of our built environment.

January 31, 2011 - Boston Globe

The Tea Party has it all wrong, writes Joel Mills. Urban planning is not a radical, elitist agenda, but the best example of local democracy available today.

January 31, 2011 - Joel Mills

A real estate report found that there are only four cities in the U.S. where it makes more sense for residents to rent rather than buy. The foreclosure crisis has made it more practical to buy rather than rent in 72% of America's 50 largest cities.

January 31, 2011 - San Francisco Examiner

The amount of people commuting in car pools has nearly halved since 1980.

January 31, 2011 - The New York Times

A recent report shows that fast growing cities had lower incomes and bigger income drops during the recession. Mary Newsom digests the report and delves into what it means for cities looking forward.

January 30, 2011 - Citiwire

The term "smart growth" may be approaching the end of its shelf life, according to some. Its replacement: "intelligent cities".

January 30, 2011 - USA Today

Eric Jaffe pushes back on the Republican Study Committee's proposal to cut over $6 billion in rail funding over the next ten years.

January 29, 2011 - The Infrastructurist

Joel Kotkin argues that planners too often ignore "the most critical issue" in housing.

January 29, 2011 - Forbes

Beatville is a new "open source, multi-player environment for real cities", which purports to be a useful tool for democratizing urban planning.

January 28, 2011 - Urban Omnibus

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has introduced a new bill proposing to completely defund the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

January 28, 2011 - HousingWire

Wendell Cox looks at which U.S. cities saw the greatest gains (and losses) to per capita income from 2000 to 2010.

January 28, 2011 - New Geography

A new study of federal data on fatalities per 100,000 people and per 100 million miles driven finds significant differences in urban and rural roads.

January 27, 2011 - USA Today

Mayors across the country are facing the possible loss of federal Community Development Block Grants, which could pull many local projects aimed at helping low-income residents to a halt.

January 27, 2011 - Governing

New Urbanist Stefanos Polyzoides is profiled by the Los Angeles Times, which mentions a few projects the architect and planners is working on in East L.A. and Fresno.

January 27, 2011 - Los Angeles Times