Social / Demographics
Biden: Masks, Not Vaccines, Are Best Defense in Near Term
President Joe Biden is calling on all Americans to wear masks for the next 100 days to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, issuing two executive orders that require wearing masks on federal property and in domestic and international travel.
Cars, Transit, and the Disabled
Contrary to popular myth, the disabled drive less than other Americans.
The Shifting Demographics of Homeownership
Hispanics are the only racial group projected to increase their rate of homeownership over the next two decades, according to a new analysis.
An American Lockdown
Words matter. Road safety advocates know that "crashes are not accidents." Similarly, calling coronavirus restrictions "lockdowns," fails to distinguish the severity among public health orders. On January 6, America experienced a true lockdown.
San Francisco's Housing Crisis is Deepening, Despite Falling Rents
Despite the purported exodus of untethered Silicon Valley workers from the Bay Area, rents in the city are still the highest in the United States.
North Dakota's Mask Mandate Expires as Infections Plummet
North Dakota led the nation in COVID cases for months before Gov. Doug Burgum issued a mask mandate last November. Since then, active cases have dropped by 80 percent. The mandate was extended last month but was allowed to expire on Jan. 18.
The Slow Streets Reckoning
Slow streets programs provided a quick short-term solution and paved the way for some permanent street closures and realignments. Now, these programs are getting a second look as community groups react to the changes.
How Widespread Is the Coronavirus in Your Metro Area?
Do you know the COVID risk level where you live, work and play? Many COVID data trackers provide county and state-level data, but metropolitan area data had been more difficult to find until now, thanks to Covid Act Now.
19 of 1,036 Majority-Black ZIP Codes Are 'Prosperous,' Report Says
The Economic Innovation Group has released its 2020 Distressed Communities Index.
Shifting the Fair Housing Narrative
The nation's fair housing policies are built on a foundation of assumptions that neglects the community and culture of low-income neighborhoods.
How Working From Home Is Changing Where We Live
Remote workers are flocking to small, amenity-rich towns in the West, changing their social and economic landscape.
More Cities Legalizing 'Granny Flats'
Accessory Dwelling Units continue to gain steam as one approach for increasing affordability, but experts caution that housing affordability requires broader solutions.
What Is Gentrification?
Gentrification is a process of neighborhood change, usually resulting from an influx of relatively wealthy, white residents to a neighborhood. But that definition, and the controversies that follow, vary greatly by location, and there is no universally accepted definition of the term.
Pandemic Update: Sea Change in Sweden
The European outlier of Sweden was embraced by American conservatives as an example of a government relying not on heavy-handed business and social restrictions but voluntary compliance by individuals to reduce viral spread. No longer.
City of Compton Introduces Two-Year Guaranteed Income Pilot
Proponents of universal basic income and general income programs say direct cash payments to low-income residents would reduce inequality and alleviate poverty.
Fifth Ward Residents Oppose Houston's Interstate Expansion
The downtown freeway expansion will displace thousands of housed and unhoused residents and hundreds of small businesses.
Study Reveals the Insights of Children in the Planning Process
A recent study of preschoolers shows that small children are intuitive urban planners—if anyone ever listens.
Coronavirus Daily Deaths Top 4,000 in U.S.
For the first time in the pandemic, over 4,000 Americans died on one day, January 7, from a disease that had no name before Feb. 11, 2020.
Is Anti-Growth the Wrong Approach to Fighting Gentrification?
Limiting development has been a powerful tool for anti-gentrification activists, but have these policies had counter-productive effects?
The Blue Beltway
Ronald Brownstein, a senior editor at The Atlantic, coins a new political-geographic term in the wake of the Georgia U.S. Senate runoff elections to describe a shift in the political alignment of nearly all large metropolitan areas in the nation.
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
