Community / Economic Development

This video from Public Architecture looks at three outdoor lighting displays and their impact on the public realm in San Francisco.

May 26, 2011 - Public Architecture

California's high speed rail project has been criticized for starting its first section in the state's central valley and connecting to small towns. But this piece argues that's exactly the right way to do it.

May 26, 2011 - Miller-McCune

Density reduces costs and helps make places more sustainable, according to this post in a series on "great places".

May 26, 2011 - Grist

Community members in Philadelphia have taken over a languishing site and put it back into use as a temporary park space.

May 26, 2011 - NewsWorks

A vocal and dedicated contingent of residents have successfully rallied to halt plans to expand a highway in metropolitan Vancouver.

May 25, 2011 - Straight

The Tennessee town of Shelbyville has become a new center for Somalian refugees. A new documentary looks at what the influx of this group has meant to the city and its people.

May 25, 2011 - Miller-McCune

In this excerpt from a new book on Los Angeles, L.A.-based architect Michael Maltzan reflects on the city, and how its clashes and evolving identity are part of why it represents the future of cities.

May 25, 2011 - Places

The 2012 Olympics are hoped to create a big economic boost for host city London. The event's long-term impacts on the environment, though, are still hard for organizers to predict.

May 25, 2011 - The Guardian

So says Maria Choca Urban of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, which recently released a plan for retrieving Cleveland, Ohio from the dustbin.

May 24, 2011 - Cleveland Plain Dealer

A new report from the Cato Institute says that tax-increment financing (TIFs) costs taxpayers $10 billion a year and the practice is growing by the minute.

May 24, 2011 - The Antiplanner

Is Park Place next? In Atlantic City, the newly-created Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) has taken control of the city's casino district.

May 24, 2011 - The Architect's Newspaper

Bill Fulton writes about the shift from permanent, full-time jobs to "1099 jobs": hourly, contract work that is becoming more and more common. If 1099 jobs take over the economy, how can economic developers do their job?

May 23, 2011 - Governing Magazine

Deteriorating commercial strips are commonplace in today's auto-oriented suburbs. Errin Welty outlines her strategy for turning stagnating strips into vibrant shopping districts.

May 23, 2011 - Errin Welty

In this series from Glass House Conversations, journalist Greg Lindsay asks what the successful cities of the future will look like, and whether or not they should be built from scratch.

May 22, 2011 - Glass House Conversations

Keeping America innovative means maintaining its power to lure in immigrants, according to this article. But as it argues, that lure is fading.

May 21, 2011 - The Wall Street Jounal

Preparations for the World Cup and Olympics are displacing hundreds of families in Rio de Janeiro. One neighborhood next to a major stadium has been turned into a ghost town.

May 21, 2011 - Guardian

A new report takes a unique look at quality-of-life issues in the Golden State, measuring social well-being using health, education and income factors. The study concludes that the state is divided into 5 areas with different ecologies.

May 20, 2011 - Ventura County Star

As the city of Detroit struggles with population loss and dwindling industrial jobs, farms and community gardens offer the city a positive nudge.

May 20, 2011 - The New York Times

Developers in Mumbai will be allowed to build street furniture and sell advertising space on it as part of their projects, in accordance with a new law in the city.

May 20, 2011 - NDTV

Detroit should look to a neighbor in the north for advice on rebounding from industrial decline, according to this piece from New Geography, which argues that Winnipeg has already paved the way.

May 19, 2011 - New Geography