Community / Economic Development

Impacts of AVs and E-Commerce on Municipal Budgets
A new report from Urbanism Next/SCI takes you through a city’s budget—both revenues and expenditures—and describes the areas that will be affected as AVs become commonplace and e-commerce takes on an even larger role in retail

New Mapping Tool Illuminates the Consequences of Redlining
According to Next City, a new mapping tool from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition reveals the roots of gentrification in addition to making stark a history of discrimination.

On Poverty's New Suburban Look
Author Scott Allard debunks lingering myths about how people experience poverty in cities. Poverty's suburbanization, he argues, has more to do with the loss of jobs than migration from "inner cities."

Worldwide Response to the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics: Skepticism
More than one media outlet praised Los Angeles' optimism for cutting a deal with the International Olympics Committee to host the 2028 Olympics.

Is There Space for Planning in Trump's News Cycle?
An analysis of Planetizen traffic in the first six months of the Trump Administration reveals an audience still focused, despite so many distractions, on the future of communities.

'Stoner Hill' Up in Smoke
Changing enforcement and greater activation have changed Commons Park in Denver, which is no longer the site of the drug use that gave the hill its moniker.

Using Satellite Imagery, This AI Traces Urban Wealth
Penny is an artificial intelligence program that detects affluence from space. It also lets users experiment with how different visual forms affect its perception of an area's wealth.
Schuykill Yards Project Nets $5.6 Million to Neighborhood Programs
The Neighborhood Engagement Initiative funding from developers of Schuylkill Yards in Philadelphia is being called the largest program of its kind in the city.

The Full Story of Detroit's Decline: The Shunning
The decline of Detroit can't be completely explained by the decline of the U.S. auto industry, according to an editorial commemorating the 50th anniversary of a five-day period of rioting and protest that resonates to this day.

Trump Tells Residents to Leave Upstate New York
President Trump told Wall Street Journal reporters earlier this week that Upstate New York "isn't working," and residents should follow manufacturing jobs to other parts of the country.

Berkeley Wants to Fund a Tent City for the Homeless
The city of Berkeley has a radical idea for how to build more transitional housing for its sizable homeless population.
Art in the Face of Gentrification
Art and culture tend to be integral to helping disenfranchised communities self-identify, develop their identities, and organize around place-based issues. But its presence can also be used be used by real estate interests to market neighborhoods.

Education and Nutrition Flourish Together
"A hungry world is not a just world," says one of the local residents quoted in this story about a community garden in Denver.

Study: 'Eyes on the Street' Have Real Value for Neighborhood Safety
The first study to make an attempt at quantifying the value of "eyes on street"—an idea most eloquently described by Jane Jacobs—offers reason to support a mix of uses, with businesses operating later in the evening.
Amazon's Mobile Stores Rolling Out Nationwide
Amazon's Treasure Trucks hawk everything from GoPros to poke bowls and Harry Potter books.

Like City, Like Stadium
Beloved as it is, Dodger Stadium did not come easily to Los Angeles. Its development was fraught with protests, political rivalries, and debates over public investment and urbanism. Those debates continue today.
New Poll Shows Broad, Bipartisan Support for Hiking Federal Gas Tax
A majority of Americans of both parties support raising the gas tax to pay for road improvements. Could it provide the source of the $200 billion in federal funds for Trump's $1 trillion infrastructure plan?

Coffee With Your Gentrification?
The Los Angeles Times published a pair of incendiary articles this week in which coffee plays an integral role in the conversation about gentrification.

How Planners Can Liberate the Next Amazon
The path to business success occasionally passes through the garage—famously demonstrated by industry titans like Amazon or Hewlett Packard. Zoning codes should encourage, not obstruct, these kinds of American success stories.

Cleveland Clinic Lacks a Prescription for its Community
According to an article by Dan Diamond, the Cleveland Clinic is a worldwide success story, but the community surround the hospital "remains mired in poverty."
Pagination
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.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service