Social / Demographics
Suburban Decline and Urban Growth Predicted
According to the new book, Foreclosing the Dream: How America's Housing Crisis Is Reshaping Our Cities and Suburbs, development is shifting to cities more strongly than most Americans realize.
Americans Spending More On Housing Than Ever
18.6 million American households –renters and homeowners alike – spend more than half their income on housing, according to a new study by Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies.
Amount of Families in Shelters Increases
The number of families in homeless shelters increased by 7% in 2009, according to a new report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Funding Permanent Housing for the Homeless in Tempe
Officials in Tempe, Arizona and Maricopa County are using federal stimulus money to help end chronic homelessness by providing permanent housing options.
Locals vs Tourists Mapped Through Photography
Eric Fischer uses Flickr geodata to visualize where photos are taken in cities, and by whom. The result is a colorful divide between tourists and locals in a variety of cities around the world.
BP Disaster Endangering Coastal Cultures
The Gulf Coast is home to diverse ethnic and racial communities that have already endured decades of pollution from chemical and petroleum industries. The BP leak may be the "nail in the coffin" for many of these communities, writes Jordan Flaherty.
As Developing Countries Urbanize, Food Booms
A new study shows that agricultural output in the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China will be three times as great as those in the developed world. Increasing urbanization is seen as one of the drivers of this growth
Los Angeles Finds a Communal Way to Enjoy The World Cup
Jeremy Rosenberg of Next American City examines how the people of Los Angeles get together to watch the world cup, in the absence of any primary public meeting space.
City Logos for the Entire World
GOOD points to a new project that's trying to create and collect city logos for every city on the planet.
Bruce Sterling on Cities
Boing Boing interviews author and futurist Bruce Sterling about global cities and how vastly expanding urban scale is not necessarily a problem.
Augmenting Sense of Place
In the first of a two-part series on augmented reality, Mitchell Schwarzer discusses how this new form of information affects our sense of place.
New Urbanist Ideas Can Improve Public Health
"A once radical idea - that health and urbanism are so deeply entwined that investing in the latter may improve the former -- is beginning to find broad adoption," concludes Fast Company. Greg Lindsay charts the realization of this relationship.
Traffic Planning for Rock and Roll
Traffic congestion marred the early year's of the annual music festival Bonnaroo in Tennessee. But now, advanced traffic planning has made the gridlock only a memory.
The Big Business Behind Local Opposition to Wal-Mart
Typically thought of as a war to protect small businesses in communities from being swallowed up by a giant, the local opposition to Wal-Mart stores is often funded secretly by other major grocery chains.
Sit/Lie Proposal Shot Down in San Francisco
A controversial plan being pushed by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to ban sitting or laying on public sidewalks during certain hours of the day has been voted down by supervisors.
Party in the Graveyard
The Olinger Crown Hill Cemetery in Wheat Ridge, Colorado is trying to lighten up what is typically a somber setting by scheduling concerts and other cultural events at the graveyard.
Has Expansion of the Welfare State Hindered Social Mobility in London?
Joel Kotkin examines the causes of growing disaffection among Britain's youth and the associated class conflicts that were highlighted by the recent general election.
Homes on the Highway for Displaced Haitians
Haitians displaced from their home by the devastating earthquake in January have set up camp along a highway median.
Quantifying Health Costs Of Auto-Dependency
Can health care costs be factored into transportation investments? Should they? The American Public Health Association says an emphatic 'yes' to both. Results are reported in a 12-page report that includes cost savings from walkable urban design.
Modernism, Architecture and Segregation
Essayist and photographer Aisha Sloan revisits the Los Angeles neighborhood of her childhood to examine Modernist architecture and its correlation to segregation.
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.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
