Community / Economic Development
Using Vacant Property Registration Fee Ordinances to Fix Blight
Planners get involved with foreclosure by assisting residents threatened with foreclosure or addressing community impacts such as blight, vacancy, and property disinvestment. A look at vacant property fees as a tool for dealing with foreclosure.
Big Money Floods Venice Beach
Is a gentrified Venice Beach still Venice Beach? With median home prices topping $1.4 million, the area's eclectic characters can't afford to stay. Investors and the tech industry say the change is only natural.
Global Call for Ideas Reveals Promising Resilience Solutions
Superstorm Sandy spurred the New York City Economic Development Corporation to form the RISE:NYC program, a global competition for innovative solutions to post-disaster resiliency. Arup's Sarah Wesseler spoke with them to learn more.
What Is a 'Great' Neighborhood? An Analysis of APA's Top-Rated Places
A study recently published in the Journal of the American Planning Association finds that the APA's definition of "great neighborhoods" might be leaving low-income and minority populations behind.
Community Ties in the Era of Isolation
Connectivity may form the bedrock of what we call "resilience" but we're just not all that neighborly these days. Can we become more competitive and lasting by restitching our threadbare community fabric?
Atlanta's Midtown Achieving 'Tech Hub' Status
Companies looking for creative class cache have begun to locate in Atlanta's Midtown and spilling over into neighboring districts.
Is the Local NFL Team Hurting the Local College Team and the Local Economy?
Studies show building NFL stadiums drain tax revenues and don't boost local economies. What about NFL teams themselves? Land use attorney (and football fan) Bill Adams argues that they rob support from local college teams and local economies.
HUD Grants $24 Million for Community Development Pool in North St. Louis
The federal government offered to $24 million to create a loan pool in struggling areas of North St. Louis County—most infamously displayed to the country over the past year in the intense racial conflicts centering around Ferguson.
Terms and Concepts for Understanding Land Banks
Clarifying some of the jargon that drives the land bank process in Cuyahoga County, Ohio reveals the importance and scale of neighborhood stabilization in some parts of the country.
Should Architects Be Citizen Scientists?
Can self-contained urban food systems exist in the core of our cities? Architect Darrick Borowski of New York based firm ARExA developed a model to determine just that.
Baltimore's Big Idea: Schools as the Center of Neighborhood Transformation
The city of Baltimore is taking a new approach to an old idea: that schools should be the center of neighborhoods.
Traffic Deaths Soar—Is Cheap Gas a Culprit?
An August 17 press release from the National Safety Council indicates the United States is on track to exceed 40,000 road deaths this year, the highest since 2007. A January NPR report links the spike to decreased gas prices.
Stress Test: On the Connection Between Gentrification and Helicopter Parenting
A subject sure to hit close home to many readers: the relationship between the modern concerns of parenting and expense urban living. In other words: how gentrification leads to helicopter parenting.
Escaping the Cycle of Inflated Housing Costs
In an insightful article, William Fulton unpacks the supply-demand cycle driving costs skyward in certain areas. To address the problem, new construction needs an unprecedented level of diversity.
Support for Rail Heats Up in Phoenix
A seven-year-old light rail line has beaten ridership projections and transformed neighborhoods in Phoenix. Now, one of the nation's most sprawling cities considers where to expand the system—and how to pay for it.
Survey of 251 U.S. Mayors Reveals 'Unequal Recovery'
A report from the National League of Cities mines the political leadership of 251 cities for insights into the state of local economies.
Closed Ontario Schools May Be Transformed Into Community Hubs
Schools are part of, and even anchor communities. Good planning requires schools as part of "Complete Communities". Until this proposal is adopted, school boards often close schools due to funding or liability. This is a possible step forward.
Litigation of Boise Anti-Camping Ordinance Could Have National Implications
A lawsuit in Boise could decide the future of one policy response to homelessness—making it illegal to sleep in public.
Seattle's 'Oh So Human' Hesitations About Change
Seattle's recent Housing and Livability Agenda (HALA) recommendations have created a sensational dialogue about zoning, affordability and neighborhood change. Chuck Wolfe explains how this may create an unprecedented basis for consensus in the city.
A Visionary Plan for an Urban Village in Minneapolis-Saint Paul
The Prospect North Partnership intends to build a fully integrated, resource-efficient neighborhood in a prime yet underdeveloped location.
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
