Community / Economic Development

In Philadelphia, an alliance of unusual suspects worked together to convince the city to create the land bank. The law isn't perfect but the new land bank will significantly improve the city’s vacant property process.

February 2, 2014 - Shelterforce

In the eighth installment of the Urban Juxtapositions series profiled in Planetizen on January 16, Chuck Wolfe asks if we are using the right language when it comes to densifying urban spaces.

February 1, 2014 - myurbanist

The United State Conference of Mayors recently released a report projecting moderate growth for almost all of the country’s metropolitan areas. A survey of coverage on the report reveals multiple readings of the state of the economy.

January 31, 2014 - New Geography

Two years after Governor Andrew Cuomo outlined an ambitious 10-year, $1 billion effort to revive the Buffalo Niagara economy, the areas targeted for investment are beginning to become clear, reports David Robinson.

January 31, 2014 - The Buffalo News

These 15 ancient cities can help modern urbanites plan more efficient and sustainable municipalities.

January 30, 2014 - Future Cities

The Atlanta Braves are planning a new stadium, opening in 2017, in suburban Cobb County. How much residual development investment should local stakeholders expect?

January 30, 2014 - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A HUD funded project has provided the city of St. Louis with a fine-grained map of residential real estate conditions across the city. Officials are hopeful the data will better guide the distribution of precious community development dollars.

January 30, 2014 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

In prior State of the Unions, President Obama has put forth bold plans for building high-speed rail, tackling climate change and transitioning to alternative energy sources. Facing an obstinate Congress, he outlined a more modest agenda last night.

January 29, 2014 - Los Angeles Times

For the first time in over 50 years, streetcars are on their way back to the nation’s capital, where long-term, the city will build 37 miles of tracks. D.C. planners are citing Portland as the model for an expected rush of development investment.

January 29, 2014 - The Washington Post

The Centre for Cities has released a report called the Cities Outlook 2014, which examines the question of whether London’s success might come at the expense of the rest of the U.K.’s cities.

January 28, 2014 - The Guardian

Removing Detroit’s blight is highly emotional, and made more difficult by the lack of models for emulation. A recent editorial rejects the assumption that removing blight from over 100,000 vacant lots is sufficient to stimulate economic development.

January 28, 2014 - Detroit Free Press

The prevailing wisdom is that as a neighborhood gentrifies, long-time, low income residents are forced to move out because of rising rents, i.e. displacement. Two studies from Columbia University and the Federal Reserve draw different conclusions.

January 26, 2014 - NPR

Last year, the U.S. increased oil consumption by two percent, surpassing the increase in China for the first time in more than a decade according to a new IEA report. How does this increase square with peak car, peak VMT, and peak oil consumption?

January 25, 2014 - Marketplace

After a decade of phenomenal growth and transformation, a survey of D.C. residents reveals widespread agreement on neighborhood improvement, but also concern that the changes are only benefiting the city's affluent residents.

January 23, 2014 - The Washington Post

In Los Angeles’s Boyle Heights neighborhood, some locals are benefiting from public-space improvements as part of the Eastside Access project. But many nearby streets and sidewalks are sorely neglected.

January 22, 2014 - LA Streetsblog

A new study reveals two findings on air pollution spewing from China's coal-burning factories. First, the pollution blows to the U.S and other nations. Second, 20% of the pollution can be traced to Western demand for cheap goods from those factories.

January 22, 2014 - Los Angeles Times - Science Now

Bucking tradition amidst arguably the most thorough example of sprawl in the country, a Phoenix developer is investing in Grant Park—a Latino neighborhood adjacent to downtown.

January 21, 2014 - Marketplace

With occupancy rates rising faster in urban than suburban locations, some suburbs are remaking themselves into mixed-use communities with hi-rise office and residential towers; Tysons Corner, Va. and Research Triangle Park, N.C. among them.

January 21, 2014 - The Wall Street Journal - U.S.

Ernest Hemingway wrote in A Farewell to Arms that “only the names of places had dignity.” Has a history of cookie cutter, master-planned development robbed our places of value?

January 21, 2014 - MinnPost

Auburn University's Rural Studio program and other designers from across the U.S. have descended on Hale County, Alabama for two decades in an effort to improve the quality of life for the rural area's residents. What have they achieved?

January 20, 2014 - Fast Company