Urban Development
Residential Growth Cap Overruling Could Reshape California
A recent court ruling preventing a California town from placing a cap on residential development could change the shape of the state, according to the San Francisco Chronicle's John King.
Higher Fees Drive Developers to Outskirts
In Corpus Christi, Texas, a park development fee on inner city properties has developers crying foul, claiming it discourages development in inner cities where it should be encouraged.
Political Skirmishes Delaying Ground Zero Construction
New York City's Ground Zero has sat as an empty hole for years. Though infrastructure work is underway, politics are holding the rebuilding back, according to this interview with New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger.
Splicing Small Farms into Residential Development
Small farms are increasingly being integrated into new housing development proposals. One new project in Washington is betting on the growing popularity of local food to draw in homebuyers.
Disney-Adjacent Development, For Sale By Owner
Built during the height of the boom, GardenWalk in Anaheim was a can't-fail mixed-use shopping center with condos. The retail opened just as the recession hit, and this week the developer has put the condo construction rights up for sale.
The Rise of NORCs
There are senior-living and retirement communities all over the U.S., but a new breed of housing for the elderly is emerging in cities across the world: the Naturally Occurring Retirement Community, or NORC.
High Speed Rail Sprawl
Some planners are warning that high speed rail could spur exurban growth and sprawl.
Rethinking Urban Alleyways in Seattle
Through a new competition, the city of Seattle is looking to revive and reuse the alleys of the urban core.
The Importance of Street Names
In Seattle, the street names were settled a century ago. Naming alleys and other unnamed civic features is a way to reclaim urban spaces and enhance heritage. Kurt Cobain Way, anyone?
Density Uber Alles
Is density a goal unto itself? John Parman argues that a 38-story building proposed for San Francisco has little to do with walkable urbanism, and continues "a sorry tradition of case-by-case rezoning."
TIGER Grants May Take Transit Off Endangered List
Less money for highways, more for transit and "complete streets" - New Urban News takes a look at where the $1.5 billion TIGER grants are going.
Green Features Aren't Selling Houses
Green housing features like solar roofs and angled walls add cost to a development, and lenders don't see added value. So as CNN reports, green housing currently faces a stiff market.
Ghetto-ization: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Density
At first glance, the historic Ghetto streetscene in Venice is an appealing new urbanist community. In another place at another time, the virtues of compact, walkable and dense were the very isolation we now abhor.
Redevelopment Agencies Circle the Wagons, Fight for Funding
Redevelopment agencies, lead by the CRA, are planning their strategy for how to keep their local redevelopment funding from the state. CP&DR blogs and tweets from the California Redevelopment Association conference.
South African World Cup Stadium Costs Highlight Neighboring Poverty
The costs of a new stadium built for this year's World Cup in Nelspruit, South Africa have heightened tensions between the city's poor and its leading officials.
New Condos Finally Filling in Miami
Downtown Miami is on the upswing, with a new study showing that 74% of the condos built there since 2003 occupied. The market tanked in 2007 with the rest of the economy, but things are looking up.
Land Conservation Not Responsible For High Cost of Housing
High housing prices cannot be blamed on land conservation efforts, at least not in Silicon Valley, is the word from researchers at Stanford University.
Planners' Mistakes in Framing the Problems of Traffic
This research paper focuses on how land use planners are continuing to plan and develop cities and urban areas in ways that increase traffic and congestion.
Land Grab in Africa
In what The Guardian calls "the greatest change of ownership since the colonial era," enormous swaths of African land is being sold to foreign countries seeking agricultural lands to feed their growing populations.
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
