Community / Economic Development

Retail Outlook Improving, Fewer Stores Closing

And more stores are opening, according to Retail Traffic Magazine. An estimated 35,000 new stores are predicted to open in 2011, while closings will likely be less than last year.

December 26, 2010 - Retail Traffic Magazine

Christmas Downtown is Saved

Downtown Elizabethtown, North Carolina is in the middle of a huge redevelopment project, and customers were avoiding the mess causing a blue Christmas for shopowners. City Hall stepped in and put a hold on revitalization, and Santa is back in town.

December 25, 2010 - WWAY3

Niagara Falls, New York: The Epitome of Bad Urban Planning

An extensive piece in Bloomsburg BusinessWeek uncovers the bad ideas and worse decisions that led to the downfall of Niagara Falls, New York. Step one? Replacing the historic downtown with "a bunch of modernist follies."

December 25, 2010 - On Street Level

Mapping Demographic Change in the West

High Country News offers a look at the Western U.S., based on recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau, using a mapping tool from The New York Times.

December 24, 2010 - High Country News

Big Boxes Going Urban

Big box retailers are continuing to target urban markets, and finding new ways to squeeze their large sizes into dense urban settings.

December 23, 2010 - NPR

How Cities Can Survive Rising Temperatures

Temperatures are warming all over the planet. The new book "Climatopolis" looks at what cities can do to survive.

December 23, 2010 - IEEE Spectrum

Israel's Urban Outlier

Capitalism and bourgeois values built the city of Tel Aviv, which stands today as an outlier in Israel, according to this article.

December 22, 2010 - City Journal

Status Quo Sprawl Lives On in Fresno

The approval of a massive shopping center in Fresno, California, highlights the city's inability to move beyond its sprawl-centric tendencies, according to this piece from The Fresno Bee.

December 22, 2010 - The Fresno Bee

Shrinking Cities Means Shuttered Churches

The Archdiocese of Detroit is working with city planners and local demographers as they develop their plans for Catholic parish closures.

December 22, 2010 - The Detroit News

Big Signs May Top Downtown Seattle Buildings

Seattle is considering a new policy that will allow companies to place large signs atop buildings downtown. It's part of an effort to lure companies downtown, but many locals are outraged.

December 22, 2010 - NPR

Physicist Tackles Urban Theory

Physicist Geoffrey West of the Santa Fe Institute applied his talents to unraveling urban issues like population growth in a similar vein that he did earlier with biology. He found answers that explain how all cities work if enough data is supplied.

December 20, 2010 - The New York Times - Magazine

The Spatial Divide of Income Levels

Writing for Next American City, Yonah Freemark reviews recently released Census data to find increasing income levels in inner cities, and a growing spatial divide between poorer populations.

December 20, 2010 - Next American City

Streetcar the Savior?

Streetcars are increasingly seen as boons to local economies. And with a $130 million federal fund aimed at streetcar projects, some are expecting more systems to develop, according to this article. Others, though, still question the investment.

December 19, 2010 - CNN

Census Proves That Downtowns Are Coming Back

Earlier this week, the new American Community Survey data was released. Daniel Nairn writes that the new data show "a reversal of the 20th century story of urban decline."

December 18, 2010 - SustainableCitiesCollective

Federal Fiscal Reform's Impact at Lower Levels of Government

The Obama Administration is hoping to address the nation's huge deficits. Neal Peirce looks at how proposed solutions might trickle down to states and municipalities.

December 18, 2010 - Citiwire

Five Technologies That Matter For Cities

Mobile broadband, government-sponsored cloud computing, smart devices - these are a few of the technologies that cities should be thinking about for the future, says the Institute for the Future in a new report.

December 17, 2010 - Fast Company

A Voluntary Property Tax?

More cities are exploring the use of PILOT programs (Payments In Lieu Of Taxes) as a way to supplement ailing city coffers. The gist is that large non-profits, which are used to paying no property taxes, are being asked to chip in for city services.

December 17, 2010 - The Naked City

Cities: Art and the Creative Class Aren't Going to Save You

Thomas Sevcik says that hoping for an economic benefit by attracting the creative class and artists is a wrongheaded strategy.

December 17, 2010 - Urban Omnibus

'Ugly' Tourism in Belgium

An entrepreneur in a declining industrial city takes visitors on an 'Urban Safari.'

December 17, 2010 - The Wall Street Journal

The More Cars You Own, The More Likely You'll Default

That's the conclusion of a new study published in the Journal of Sustainable Real Estate. Higher WalkScores also show a decrease in defaults, unless you're in a low-income area, which results in an increase in defaults.

December 16, 2010 - New Urban Network

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.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.