Community / Economic Development

Roosevelt Island

New York's First Citywide, Multi-Partner Community Land Trust

With support from the city and community development groups, Interboro Community Land Trust will focus on creating affordable homeownership opportunities.

October 30, 2017 - Next City

Harvey Floods Houston

HUD Cuts Red Tape to Support Hurricane Recovery

Administrative changes announced by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will impact programs like the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and the HOME Investment Partnerships programs.

October 28, 2017 - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Produce Aisle

Ground-Level Grocery Stores Proliferate in Boston

Being able to get groceries without a car can be a big draw in walkable, mixed use neighborhoods. Many Boston grocers and developers are taking that to heart.

October 25, 2017 - The Boston Globe

Austin

Which U.S. Cities Changed the Most This Decade

Analysis looks at a decade of data to determine which communities are undergoing dynamic transformations, and which are standing still.

October 23, 2017 - Modern Cities

New York Vacant Storefront

Data Shows a Tepid Post-2008 Recovery in America's Cities

According to data compiled by the Lincoln Institute, public revenue and spending on the local and municipal levels hasn't truly bounced back following the Great Recession.

October 23, 2017 - Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

Sprawl

Suburban Office Parks Gain New Life As Millennials Grow Up

With some tweaks and upgrades, surburban office parks are reinventing themselves to attract new tenants and the millennials ready to start families in the 'burbs.

October 20, 2017 - Bloomberg

Amazon Fulfillment Center

War Rooms, Tax Breaks, and Sappy Videos—It's Deadline Day for Amazon HQ2

In a first for urbanism, Amazon turned a request for proposals into a hashtag. Welcome to #AmazonHQ2 day.

October 19, 2017 - James Brasuell

Washington D.C. Grocery Store

'Grocery Walk' Gathers D.C. Residents to Bring Attention to Lack of Food Options

Neighborhoods with mostly minority populations in Washington, D.C. suffer from a lack of quality grocery stores. A large group of neighborhood activists are trying to do something about it.

October 19, 2017 - Greater Greater Washington

Amazon Fresh

How Amazon Is Expanding Brick and Mortar Presence

Is retail dead? Amazon doesn't think so, and has been slowly growing a fleet of physical stores that look quite a bit different from their traditional retail counterparts.

October 19, 2017 - Modern Cities

Rodents Vermin

The City With the Most Rats Is...

It's the day everyone has been waiting for! The 2017 "Rattiest Cities" list has been announced.

October 18, 2017 - The Washington Post

Hollywood

Blade Runner Goes Back to the Future

Los Angeles appears in Blade Runner 2049 in name only. But the film still provides an arresting vision of a high-density future and is a reminder of the eternal ambiguity that surrounds Los Angeles.

October 18, 2017 - California Planning & Development Report

Welcome to Detroit

How People Talk About Blight and Vacancies

The kinds of words and arguments people use to describe blight, foreclosure, and eviction reveals a lot of society's biases.

October 18, 2017 - Rustbelt Anthro

Miami Mall

Is Miami's Brickell City Centre the Mall of the Future?

Miami's Brickell City Centre represents the evolution of the shopping mall as a mixed-use social gathering place.

October 18, 2017 - Modern Cities

Highway Interchange

Obesity Tied to Suburban Life

London-based study ties obesity to sprawl and finds that suburbs have a bigger obesity problem than rural areas.

October 15, 2017 - CityLab

Tokyo Blur

Ranking the Safest Cities in the World—Tokyo Leads the List

The Economist's Intelligence Unit has released its 2017 Safe Cities Index.

October 13, 2017 - Quartz

Jackson Park

Obama's Presidential Center Raises Displacement Concerns

As the former president seeks to distinguish the Obama Presidential Center from for-profit development, many locals still want to see a binding community benefits agreement.

October 13, 2017 - CityLab

Fort Point Channel

Boston Plans Park Network for Resilience and Revitalization

The city hopes to accelerate development and mitigate flood risk along the industrial Fort Point Channel with a string of new parks.

October 11, 2017 - The Boston Globe

Rabble

Startup Allows People To Invest In Affordable Housing

New tool empowers neighbors to invest in their forgotten neighborhoods, and create wealth while doing so.

October 11, 2017 - Modern Cities

Los Angeles in 1939, as determined by the  Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC).

Nine Charts That Explain Wealth Inequality

Any way you slice it: the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.

October 11, 2017 - Urban Institute

Another Philadelphia Developer Tries to Rebrand a Whole Neighborhood

It turns out that locals don't like self-interested, unilateral decisions that erase the place names of the past.

October 11, 2017 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

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.