Community / Economic Development

Catering to potential office tenants who would want more modern spaces, New York City officials are toying with rezoning a swath of midtown Manhattan, allowing for even more density and the replacement of aging office buildings.

January 15, 2012 - The Wall Street Journal

David Schalliol's photographs of abandoned places around the country are intended to be testaments to various social forces that have broken down urban places in recent years. But, he says, they are optimistic as well.

January 15, 2012 - Huffington Post

In an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times, William Fulton, former mayor of Ventura and the only mayor in California who supported the Governor's proposal to end redevelopment, offers concrete steps for reviving redevelopment in the state.

January 13, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

The City's top budget official has warned that dismantling the Redevelopment Agency could cost the city more than $109 million in new expenses.

January 12, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

With strong advocates in Washington and in City Hall, planning continues for an ambitious multi-billion dollar effort to overhaul the Los Angeles River and its relationship to the city.

January 11, 2012 - Planning

The Super Bowl bid in Indianapolis has had a ripple effect in the community, leading to significant revitalization efforts and a "mini-building boom in anticipation of the big game."

January 11, 2012 - The New York Times

Much of the existing literature on Gentrification looks at what happens to residents as places change. Two authors are focusing their attention on commercial uses to better understand the interrelationship between retail and changing neighborhoods.

January 11, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Bob Pool profiles a project by Urban Planner James Rojas, who's constructed an 80-square-foot scale model of Long Beach that residents and business owners can tinker with to illustrate their own vision of the city.

January 11, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

Since the Japanese government spent $300 billion rebuilding Okushiri after a 1993 tsunami, things have taken a grim, ironic turn: with high-paying construction jobs leaving, so are young people who no longer wish to be part of a fishing economy.

January 11, 2012 - The New York Times

"Look out, Silicon Valley"-- A decades-long effort to bring technology-based firms to New York City is beginning to see a payoff, according to this piece from The Economist.

January 11, 2012 - The Economist

From movie sets to pot farms to low-income housing, foreclosed homes have been converted in unepected and resourceful ways. Catherine Rampell reports.

January 11, 2012 - The New York Times

Despite the dark cloud that the policies of new Mayor Rob Ford have brought to several of Toronto's promising transportation and redevelopment initiatives, Christopher Hume gives us 10 reasons to feel optimistic about the future of the city.

January 10, 2012 - Toronto Star

January 9, 2012 - John I. Gilderbloom

Cities and redevelopment agencies are pushing for legislation that give them a stay of execution. Meanwhile, cities are evaluating which projects will be impacted.

January 9, 2012 - California Planning & Development Report

An innovative tenants-rights organization in Boston combines community activism and financial backing to force banks to sell foreclosed homes back to the previous owners.

January 8, 2012 - Shelterforce

With perhaps as many as 2 billion parking spaces in the US, planners and architects should "take seriously" the parking lot as an actual, useful public space.

January 7, 2012 - The New York Times

The 80s-era convention center on the far west side of Manhattan would be turned into a mixed-use development and a Malaysian gambling company would instead redevelop the Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, Queens.

January 6, 2012 - Bloomberg

What would be the Millennium Reserve is currently "underused and post-industrial land" and is expected to cost about $17 million to construct. At about 140,000 acres, it's approximately ten times larger than Manhattan.

January 6, 2012 - Triple Pundit

Why rezone? John Farley summarizes the factors leading up to some of the city's biggest and more recent rezonings, as well as their impacts on on their surroundings.

January 5, 2012 - Thirteen.org

Jobs of the future will be located in areas with some of the fastest bandwidth in the world -- and American is in sorry shape, writes columnist Thomas Friedman in The New York Times.

January 5, 2012 - The New York Times