Social / Demographics

As aging populations grow, more cities and design organizations are looking at how to make streets safer for older residents.

May 25, 2011 - NPR

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

Even amid a stalled economy, new data from the FBI reports that big cities, those with a population of at least one million, are seeing huge declines in crime.

May 24, 2011 - The Atlantic

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

Urban design is increasingly linked with poor health conditions. Grist's Sarah Goodyear explains how cities are literally killing people.

May 21, 2011 - Grist

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

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

This interactive map from the BBC tracks growth and urbanization in global cities from 1955 up through 2015.

May 19, 2011 - BBC

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

The dividing lines in the cities of today are not so much about neighborhoods, but rather the relative health of those neighborhoods, according to this piece from The Globe and Mail.

May 19, 2011 - The Globe and Mail

Transportation is increasingly seen as a major concern as London prepares to host the 2012 Summer Olympics. As crowds fill the city, many wonder whether it will be able to handle the load and keep everyone moving.

May 19, 2011 - The Guardian

The Urban Guide for Alternate Use points to a campaign by a group called Varsity of Maneuvers that reuses street poles for pole dancing.

May 19, 2011 - Urban Guide for Alternate Use

Projections of water shortages and predicted changes in the climate mean bad news for water users in the American West.

May 18, 2011 - Miller-McCune

In Vancouver, urban density is being attacked as a detriment to the city. But as this column argues, the city's emphasis on density and transit accessibility is what makes the city great.

May 18, 2011 - The Globe and Mail

Faces are appearing in Brooklyn, plastered along the slats of front stoops as part of a participatory public art project by famous French street artist JR.

May 17, 2011 - The Street Spot

Bike lanes have become one of the most controversial topics in all of New York City. For cycling to take hold, the city needs to make sure all groups have equal access to cycling, say a team of Hunter College grad students.

May 17, 2011 - Streetsblog

Race and ethnic groups have seen major shifts from the 1990s to today, according to this report from the Brookings Institution.

May 16, 2011 - Brookings Institution

Rural areas in Germany are seeing major declines in population. Some worry that these declining villages and towns are being left by the wayside as the nation heads towards urban centers.

May 15, 2011 - Der Spiegel

The recovery of New Orleans is happening in many small ways. One of them is the work of community groups to rebuild and re-inhabit damaged homes.

May 15, 2011 - NRDC Switchboard