Community / Economic Development
A Map of the Most Economically Distressed Communities in the United States
The economic recovery of recent years has not reached all corners of the country—it hasn’t even reached all corners of many cities. A new report plots a new map of the nation's distressed communities.
Op-Ed: San Diego's Draft Downtown Mobility Plan Suffering From Suburban Myopia
San Diego's Draft Downtown Mobility Plan is laudable but consists of basic generalities and vanilla concepts, ignoring how an urban environment functions, writes Jimmy Parker, former president of the city's most urban business district.
Friday Eye Candy: Dallas, Transformed Into Poetry
Dallas is a subject in a visual experiment titled "A City is a Poem."
Detroit's Business Community Ties Its Fate to Detroit's Neighborhoods
The Detroit Regional Chamber made an explicit show of solidarity with the concerns of neighborhood revitalization in the many neighborhoods of the city.
The United States of Startup Accelerators
The Brookings Institution mapped the proliferation of startup accelerators—an increasingly popular tool for economic growth.
Smart Design = Smart Policy? Not So Fast
After a few decades watching—and sometimes helping—great ideas die of overexposure to reality, I'm convinced it's not enough to just listen to folks you're hoping to help. You have to make something happen. A well-conceived charrette helps.
DIY Urbanism and Top-Down Planning
Though projects tend to be hyper-local and temporary, Do It Yourself, Tactical, or Guerrilla Urbanism is an endorsement of the top-down planning model, rather than a repudiation.
A Failing Anchor Sinks All Mall Businesses
The big anchor businesses of malls are bleeding business and closing stores, dragging the rest of the mall business down with them.
Loan Program Provides Gentrification Defense Near Chicago's 606 Bike Trail
That beautiful new bike lane, known as the 606, in Chicago has brought along with it local concerns about gentrification. The city and a local non-profit have teamed up to create a loan program to help current residents stay ahead of the curve.
'Rust Belt Riders' Grow New Composting Service in Cleveland
Waste management and composting take an entrepreneurial twist through Cleveland millennials' burgeoning home-grown business.
9 Ways to Ruin a Community Meeting
An article in CityLab says organizers and facilitators should avoid a few simple mistakes to help improve community meetings.
Compromise and an Engaged Public: Lessons From Copenhagen
Copenhagen is often cited as the world’s most livable city—a city characterized by bicycles and shared open spaces. But the road to get there has required compromise among politicians and an active and engaged community.
The Lost Art of Great Infrastructure in America
Writing in the New York Times, Allison Arieff asks what happened to the great works of public infrastructure from years past that stand as today's monuments to America’s achievements.
Lots of Positive Signs for Pittsburgh in 2016
Good news for Pittsburgh, which is now officially reversing decades of Rust Belt trends.
Program Protects School Diversity in Gentrifying Neighborhoods
The benefits of diverse classroom settings are well established. How then to protect diversity in schools when the surrounding neighborhood is quickly becoming homogenous?
Zillow: Suburbs Becoming More Like Cities
According to the real estate website, urban home values are growing faster than those in the suburbs, bucking a longtime trend. This isn't exactly surprising, but it has serious social justice implications.
Problems With Economic Impact Analysis: Examples From Base Communities
Guest blogger Joshua Drucker discusses his new research critiquing current practices in economic impact analysis.
Thriving from the Center: Freeing Urban Innovation from Ideology
Today's civic challenges are not unique in their need for balanced, accountable, and equitable solutions, requiring a combination of mindful reforms with sincere hope for more egalitarian prosperity.
GE and Industry's Return to the City
GE recently made the blockbuster decision to move its corporate headquarters to Boston. More than just another example of a company returning to an urban area, the move shows how a city like Boston benefits the kind of company GE wants to become.
New Study Looks at the Mystery and Benefits of Food Truck Movements
The seemingly non-complex decisions on where food trucks park is examined in a new study that finds there's actually a lot more to it than just an empty curb.
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
