New York City

The High Line curving through the west Chelsea section of Manhattan bordering the Hudson River has to be one of the most successful planning and design stories in New York City in recent years, touted as a crowning achievement of the reign of Mayor Bloomberg, to be emulated in cities across the country. Testimonials and awards not withstanding, I am wary of the cloying elitism of a crowing Bloomberg. Having followed the project’s promotions for the last decade and the community’s evolution for the last half century, I am skeptical of its heralded success. And with the recent sounding of related development controversies, a second opinion is in order.

June 21, 2012 - Sam Hall Kaplan

By partnering with banks, real estate developers and nonprofit groups, New York City will assist some 10,000 buildings to convert to cleaner fuel, a major step in reaching PlaNYC's goal of having the cleanest air of any major U.S. city.

June 18, 2012 - Good Environment

"Currently in its greatest period of park expansion since the 1930s," New York City has shown a remarkable commitment to expanding its open spaces, but finding the resources to maintain them is another issue entirely, explains Caitlin Blanchfield.

June 15, 2012 - The Architect's Newspaper

Due to its successful application in cities such as London and Singapore, congestion charging has become the favored approach for changing driver behavior. However, a professor at Stanford University may have found a nicer way to change habits.

June 12, 2012 - The New York Times

As the Summer months heat up, Sarah Laskow reports on cities' efforts to keep retailers' doors closed.

June 3, 2012 - GOOD Magazine

Matt Brian explores the incredible lengths retail property owners and local authorities are going to lure Apple Stores to their areas.

May 21, 2012 - The Next Web

Jim Dwyer takes a look at a proposal to produce clean energy by tapping into New York's extensive and abundantly fed water delivery system.

May 11, 2012 - The New York Times

Neighborhoods skipped, sponsorship indifference, the entire program imperiled? Read what Andrea Bernstein has to report about the items left out of Monday's splashy announcement.

May 9, 2012 - Transportation Nation

Tom Stoelker summarizes the tenor of a flurry of bills introduced this week at a City Council hearing that seek to revamp the way business gets done at the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

May 5, 2012 - The Architect's Newspaper

Noah Kazis describes the explosive success of transit systems in London, Stockholm, and Singapore, and suggests that charging motorists for road use is the secret ingredient that keeps ridership high and public support strong.

May 3, 2012 - Streetsblog

The seven largest metros in the nation are teaming up to unify the technologies that are revolutionizing life in the city, Steve Towns reports.

May 2, 2012 - Governing

Real estate's favorite tool for gauging neighborhood walkability now has a companion for transit, Kaid Benfield reports.

April 26, 2012 - Switchboard

Justin Davidson examines the latest "reinvention" of Times Square, sealing the deal on a move toward pedestrianization that began three years ago.

April 25, 2012 - New York Magazine

NYC's long-declining waterfront industry is expected to experience a new boom time, as the expansion of the Panama Canal will allow double the cargo and much larger ships to call at New York's harbor by 2024.

April 24, 2012 - MetroFocus

In the first of a five-part series, Angie Schmitt pays tribute to three "visionary bureaucrats" who are changing the face of transportation in the United States.

April 20, 2012 - Streetsblog

A year after its release, Tom Stoelker tracks the progress of New York's comprehensive plan for its waterfront, Vision 2020, the recent recipient of the APA's Daniel Burnham Award.

April 19, 2012 - The Architect's Newspaper

Alison Gregor highlights efforts by affordable housing developers to implement edible community gardens, bringing fresh food and neighborhood ties to inner-city tenants.

April 16, 2012 - The New York Times

Last week, plans were announced to create what may be the world's largest rooftop farm on 100,000 square feet of space atop a building on the Brooklyn waterfront. Lisa Foderaro has the details.

April 12, 2012 - The New York Times

There is a certain irony in community stalwarts in testy Greenwich Village wanting to have the stale housing slabs hovering over the bland park composing Washington Square Village declared an architectural landmark that will somehow thwart New York University from overdeveloping further the singular super block. “Fugataboutit,” would be a relative polite New Yorker’s observation by anyone who has ever been to this dance before, as I have. The plea is really just a feint to get the retro-redevelopment realists involved into a backroom of one of the proposal’s big buck backers to splice and dice the project so it can be swallowed by all without choking to a political death.  

April 11, 2012 - Sam Hall Kaplan

Plans to transform New York's Tappan Zee Bridge into a park have captured the public's imagination, but some speculate it's just a pipe dream, Peter Applebome reports.

April 6, 2012 - The New York Times