Urban Development
Miami's Most Ambitious Planning Project
With a focus on simplifying the development process and historic preservation, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, the lead consultant on the Miami 21 Project, unveiled the first quadrant of the City's most ambitious urban planning project to date.
Will Coastal Development Pressures In Florida Move Inland?
High coastal real estate prices and the threat of hurricanes may shift more demand to inland locations that feature higher elevations, which are hard to come by on the Florida coast. Owl's Head, a New Urbanist development, will test the market.
Kolkata's Comeback
Free enterprise and investment in infrastructure are turning Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, from a "dying city" to a "boomtown".
A Sustainable New Orleans Is Possible
Good planning can rebuild a sustainable New Orleans but politics is moving in the other direction observes Neal Peirce.
Riviera Beach Races State Law To Redevelop With Eminent Domain
The City Council of Riviera Beach, Florida, in an effort to outmaneuver the Florida Legislature, approved an agreement with a developer enabling a $2.4 billion waterfront redevelopment project that relies on eminent domain.
Federal, State Tax Credits Revitalize Downtown St. Louis
Reversing a steady decline in population since the 1950s, Census estimates show growth since 2003. People are moving back to St. Louis due to investment downtown and throughout the city.
Los Angeles Okays 1-Year Ban on Loft Conversions
Los Angeles City Council hopes to slow gentrification of downtown by approving a moratorium on conversion or demolition of low-cost hotels.
Jane Jacobs: Right Questions, Wrong Neighborhoods
Jane Jacobs brilliantly dissected the destruction of "inner areas" of "great cities," but she passed over the city districts that needed attention the most: less dense working and middle class neighborhoods, the ones that emptied out for the suburbs.
Should More Development Cost 'Mama' Her Home?
A developer wants to raze the old Buckingham Village apartments in Arlington County, to replace them with pricey new townhomes. Should "neighborhood guardian" Lillian Veney and her dog, who have lived in the complex for 12 years, be forced out?
Escaping The Ivory Tower
How a Montreal university has embraced the city around it.
Coming Soon: The World's Largest Airport And 'Logistics City'
Billing itself as the world's largest airport and logistics center, "Dubai World Central" would be twice the size of Hong Kong Island, with an airport, office and residential zones and a golf resort. A light rail system would link the city's zones.
Downtown Miami Condo Development Faces Opposition
A proposed condo development on one of downtown Miami's last vacant parcels faces opposition from nearby residents who believe that the loss of important viewsheds and an increase in traffic make the project undesirable.
Jane Jacobs Asked The Right Questions
Whitney Gould reminds us why Jane Jacobs was a visionary.
Los Angeles Finally Ready To Build Up, Not Out?
A number of well-known architecture firms are beginning to design more compact and vertical residential and commercial buildings, in line with Mayor Villaraigosa's vision of a denser, more transit-oriented L.A.
Tokyo Moves To Protect Skyline
The metro government has decided to restrict development around three historic buildings, in order to preserve views. Some developers object.
Friday Funny: Devolving American Housing Preferences, Or, Life In A Mall
First came tract housing, then gated communities. Now Americans are shelling out big bucks for places that "seamlessly fuse life with commerce, eliminate the line separating home and shop, individual and commodity." Yes, life in a glorified mall.
Downtown Los Angeles As An Architectural Mecca?
Frank Gehry makes like an urbanist in his new plans for Related's high profile, $1.8 billion, nine-acre, Grand Avenue project in downtown Los Angeles. Could LA become an architectural mecca?
Intown Housing Boom Adds To Permit Delays In Atlanta
Long the bane of developers and individual homebuilders alike, the Atlanta Bureau of Buildings now averages 40 to 80 days to provide building permits. Meanwhile, in suburban Gwinnett and Cobb Counties, the turnaround time is under one hour.
Providence's Downcity District Comes Of Age
New England's second biggest city is experiencing a wealth of revitalization, and nowhere else is it more evident than in downcity, a district reconceptualized by Andres Duany in the 1990's.
Communities Uncomfortable With Smart Growth, Higher Density
Planners find it difficult to convince Southern California communities that the region needs higher density and transit oriented development.
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
