United States
Fort Collins is Feelin' Fine
This Colorado city and four others across the nation have made early moves toward sustainability, innovation, and clean technology.
Visualizing Unemployment During the Recession
Unemployment is spreading across the country like a rash. This video tracks the changing unemployment in American counties since January 2007.
Rural America Still Leads Nation in Poverty
Despite gains in the 1990s, the last decade has seen jumps in poverty in rural areas, where rates continue to exceed the national average.
Can Free Fares Save Public Transit?
With 100 percent subsidies, transit agencies could drop the pretense of being businesses and serve many more people -- or so proponents say. Agencies aren't so sure.
Aging Sewers and Growing Cities Mean Troubled Waters
As cities grow, aging sewer systems are having trouble keeping up with increasing amounts of waste. Often, the result is sewer system overflows that end up directly in waterways.
Boomburb Growth Must Go Up, Not Out, To Retain Viability
As reported here, many boomburbs have ceased growing, if only temporarily. Streetsblog notes that experts are suggesting that in order to maintain their economic viability, these fast growing communities will have to, gasp, become more urban in form
Booming Burbs Stop Growing
Areas like Bellevue, Washington and Coral Springs, Florida have grown by 10% or more every decade since the 1970s. Today, these suburban communities are actually losing people.
Making Government Data Sexy
A flood of government data is going public, but on its own it is relatively boring and useless. A flood of new data visualization tools are hoping to change that.
Banks Brace for Onslaught of "Zombie Buildings"
Many of the thousands of commercial buildings erected on easy credit before the economic downturn remain underutilized or empty. Now those loans are coming due.
Not Just About Jobs
When then-Pres. Bush signed a transportation bill in 1991, he said it 'could be summed up in three words; jobs, jobs, jobs. Bruce Katz and Robert Puentes of Brookings say that infrastructure spending is much more than that.
Transit Use is Growing, But Not Where You Think
Transit saw some big ridership increases over the past few years, but maybe not where you'd expect. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows the top ten metropolitan areas where transit use has increased the most.
The Problem With Thinking Regionally
Carol Coletta is a believer in the new emphasis in regional government, but worries that it may be at the expense of the local.
Rethinking Sixty Years of Sprawl
There's no looking back now in the shift away from suburbs to a more sustainable urban model, writes Andre Shashaty, president of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities.
More Passengers And Less Funding Threaten To Cripple Transit Agencies
The recession has made many commuters more transit-dependent while shrinking the public coffers that may for the bulk of transit service. Without further subsidies, agencies face tough choices because of this "incredible paradox."
Buffett and Beyond
This article takes a look at the past and future of rail in America, with an emphasis on one surprise success story.
Small Cities Struggle Through Recession
Smaller cities are showing signs of struggle, as the amount of college-educated residents continues to drop. Coupled with the economic recession, smaller cities seems to be taking a harder economic hit than their larger counterparts.
Large Homebuilders Handed Millions in Tax Breaks
Large homebuilders, including Pulte Homes and Hovnanian Enterprises, will recieve hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars under the recently passed Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009.
Suburban Utopias?
This article from the Guardian argues that despite years of derision, suburbia is gaining a more positive reputation as "utopia in a big way".
Architecture From Algae
UCLA's cityLAB sponsored a competition to envision new ways public works projects could be used to improve the country's infrastructure. The winning idea: algae-based urban parks connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Whither American Infrastructure?
Bob Herbert wonders why the United States appears to have forgotten about the importance of its built infrastructure, and imagines what the future could hold.
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.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association
