With suburban sprawl a long-standing issue in Texas, one San Antonio-based architecture firm is aiming to strengthen and revitalize its city's downtown core.
San Antonio sprawl
In this booming Sunbelt city, downtown revitalization is a particularly challenging goal. While the United States as a whole has experienced something of an urban renaissance in recent years — between 2010 and 2014, downtown populations grew faster than those of the surrounding districts in most American cities — San Antonio has remained overwhelmingly suburban. Within the last decade, more new housing has been built in the sprawl zone than within the city limits, and the number of jobs in the downtown core has actually fallen. Most of the new residential and commercial development continues to take place on the outskirts of the metropolitan area, pushing the boundaries ever outward.
FULL STORY: Design activism, Texas-style
Resilience Planning for Suburban Growth
Whether or not the suburban shift accelerated by the pandemic continues, policymakers can implement climate resilience strategies and guide sustainable growth in both cities and exurbs.
COVID-19 and Big, Dense Cities That Aren't New York
As in metropolitan New York, big, dense cities don't always suffer from coronavirus to a greater extent than their car-oriented suburbs.
Study: There's a Lot of Vacant Land in Texas Cities
All that empty acreage means that these big, rapidly developing cities don’t really have to sprawl.
Trump Administration Could Effectively End Housing Voucher Program
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series
The Jeopardy champ wants you to ride public transit.
Rebuilding Smarter: How LA County Is Guiding Fire-Ravaged Communities Toward Resilience
Los Angeles County is leading a coordinated effort to help fire-impacted communities rebuild with resilience by providing recovery resources, promoting fire-wise design, and aligning reconstruction with broader sustainability and climate goals.
When Borders Blur: Regional Collaboration in Action
As regional challenges outgrow city boundaries, “When Borders Blur” explores how cross-jurisdictional collaboration can drive smarter, more resilient urban planning, sharing real-world lessons from thriving partnerships across North America.
Philadelphia Is Expanding its Network of Roundabouts
Roundabouts are widely shown to decrease traffic speed, reduce congestion, and improve efficiency.
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.
Ada County Highway District
Clanton & Associates, Inc.
Jessamine County Fiscal Court
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service