United States

New Urbanism Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry

New Urban News reports that even as housing costs plummet and construction is halted on single-family homes across the country, traditional neighborhood developments and TODs are thriving.

October 19, 2008 - New Urban News

Want Smart Growth? Break Out the Carrots and Sticks

To paraphrase B.F. Skinner, if you want positive behavior, either reward it in return, or remove something unpleasant in response; to paraphrase R. Steuteville's commentary, if we want a green economy, we need to do the same thing with development.

October 18, 2008 - New Urban News

Which Cities Stretch Dollars The Farthest?

Texas cities top a ranking by Forbes of where your dollar goes the farthest. Affordable housing and promising job prospects made a big difference.

October 18, 2008 - Forbes

Best Cities To Live in During a Recession

Business Week looks for the most recession-proof cities, using as their main criteria an abundance of jobs in stable industries like government, health care, and education.

October 17, 2008 - Business Week

The Presidential Election and the Future of America's Transportation

The federal transportation spending bill will be up for reauthorization in 2009. The fate of the nation's transportation will hinge on how this bill is reworked, which will largely be determined by who wins this November's presidential election.

October 17, 2008 - CNN Money

Affordable Housing Needs Affordable Land

Witold Rybzynski details the vicious cycle behind the nation's shortage of affordable housing.

October 16, 2008 - The Wilson Quarterly

Ideas to Outmode the Strip Mall

In a contest sponsored by the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, architecture firms nationwide competed to show off how they would best use land currently devoted to strip malls. Bustler provides the winning entries.

October 16, 2008 - Bustler

Developers Can't Find The Money

Commercial real estate developers go into detail on the impact of the financial crisis on their ability to make projects happen.

October 15, 2008 - Mlive.com

News Summary: Cities and the Financial Crisis

How is the financial crisis impacting urban planning and land use policy? Managing Editor Tim Halbur takes a look at some early indicators drawn from recent news headlines and conversations with planning professionals.

October 15, 2008 - Tim Halbur

Navigating Shared-Space Streets in the US

At a time when motorists have a smorgasbord of distractions to contend with, select US streets take a taste of a Scandinavian recipe for street design, where pedestrians, cyclists, other motorists, and even trees are blended together intuitively.

October 15, 2008 - New Urban News

Creating A More Wildlife-Friendly Interstate

Roads are to blame for interfering with and "boxing in" various animals' migratory patterns, sending ecologists on the hunt for new solutions to get wildlife moving.

October 15, 2008 - The New York Times

Will Cheaper Gas Cause Increased Driving?

As oil prices plunge to well below $100/barrel, will Americans reverse all their fuel-efficient behavior learned from $145 oil seen in July? It appears that the economic crisis may continue where the energy crisis left off.

October 14, 2008 - The Wall Street Journal

Subdivisions Becoming Ghost Towns

As foreclosures spread throughout the suburbs, subdivisions are rapidly becoming modern-day ghost towns, according to this column from The Seattle Times.

October 13, 2008 - The Seattle Times

Transportation Infrastructure Now

Mariia Zimmerman of Transportation for America makes the case for a significant investment in transportation infrastructure, from bike paths to inter-city trains.

October 13, 2008 - NOW

Is Farmland Preservation Worthwhile?

Preserving farmland has always been a major issue in the U.S. But as Bill Fulton discusses, the local economic results don't quite justify the efforts.

October 12, 2008 - Governing

Bailout Will Try to Save Suburbs, But Can't

Despite the $700 billion financial bailout plan, the suburbs will continue to lose population and value, according to Peter Katz. He says it's time for the government to prevent suburban development that is only doomed to fail.

October 12, 2008 - Citiwire

T. Boone Meets Gov. Palin To Talk Energy

Oil, gas and wind man T.Boone Pickens is clearly interjecting himself and his plan into presidential, and vice-presidential politics. Recently, he sat down with Sarah and Todd Palin to promote his plan of using natural gas as a transportation fuel.

October 11, 2008 - Boone Blog

Bailout Gives Tax Break to Bicycle Commuters

The $700 billion bailout bill includes federal tax benefits for people who commute by bike.

October 11, 2008 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Americans Continue to Migrate to Metropolitan Regions

Professor Richard Morill of the University of Washington maps population growth over the past seven years, which shows a continuing pattern of movement towards large metropolitan regions.

October 10, 2008 - newgeography

One-in-Six Homeowners 'Underwater'

Some 12 million households now owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, leading economists to worry that foreclosures will continue to rise.

October 10, 2008 - MSNBC

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.