Cities

I have lived in Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco but I have never seen anything like Beijing.  Over the next two weeks, I'm giving a series of talks at Tsinghua, Peking University and the Lincoln Institute, and the CASS.  While I was little surprised to see Mao's face on all of the money and to not be able to access my blog, I have been very impressed with everything I see and I see glimpses of a future "green city".

September 7, 2009 - Matthew E. Kahn

In Afghanistan, cities are changing. More and more people are leaving behind their agricultural past for city life, and the tide of new urbanites is stressing the fabric of the city.

September 7, 2009 - Forbes

This week's episode of Smart City features a discussion with planner Larry Beasley about how love can be an economic driver for cities, and how planning around emotions can improve cities.

September 6, 2009 - Smart City

Unstructured play is a mainstay of childhood. But dense urban areas offer fewer opportunities for free-form playtime, writes Alex Marshall. Kids have to take what they can get, and often it's not much more than an empty parking lot.

August 27, 2009 - Regional Plan Association

From the increase of city living to the decrease in vehicle miles traveled, a "new American Dream" is developing, according to Carol Coletta. But without cohesion, the benefits of these developments aren't likely to make a big impact.

August 22, 2009 - Good

This photo slideshow from the Los Angeles Times looks at the 10 most expensive cities in the world.

August 18, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

A recent episode of the Australian radio program Future Tense examines how humans interact with the city and how it will likely change in the future.

August 17, 2009 - Future Tense

Representatives from a handful of the country's "fastest-dying cities" met recently in Dayton, Ohio to try to figure out how they could revive their economies and reverse the decline that has been slowly strangling them of jobs, money and people.

August 14, 2009 - The Wall Street Journal

Typically at the top of "best cities" lists, Vancouver and Portland are highly coveted places. This piece looks at why Portland is really number one.

August 4, 2009 - The Tyee

Crime numbers and struggling city budgets have caused the Justice department to issue $1 billion in federal stimulus funds to 1,046 communities to beef up their police forces.

August 3, 2009 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

This slideshow form Mother Nature Network shows seven globa cities that are completely free of cars.

August 2, 2009 - Mother Nature Network

This episode of Smart City examines some new thinking in the realm of city tourism, focusing providing visitors more authentic experiences.

August 2, 2009 - Smart City

Focusing on aspects like earning potential and lifestyle cost, a consulting group has determined the 20 best Canadian cities for young people.

July 30, 2009 - The Vancouver Sun

Officials in big cities are expressing disappointment that the House-approved climate bill looks to state capitals for guidance, not the metropolitan areas the bill will largely impact.

July 30, 2009 - The New York Times

This piece from Forbes looks at which cities will recover fastest from the recession -- and which ones won't.

July 26, 2009 - Forbes

Once upon a time, there was a city called City. And everyone living in City voted in the same elections and paid taxes to the same government. And then 5 percent of the people decided that they wanted to live in an new neighborhood that was opened up for development by the highways. And they called it Richburb, because they were, if not rich, at least a little richer than many of the people in the city (since even if there wasn’t zoning to keep the poor out, new housing usually costs more than old housing anyhow).

July 20, 2009 - Michael Lewyn

Crime is down in big cities across America, leaving experts wondering why.

July 20, 2009 - The Washington Post

Grist brings us this list of the top 15 sustainable cities in the U.S.

July 19, 2009 - Grist

Light rail is seen as a golden opportunity to revive inner cities. Not so fast, argues Alan Hoffman.

July 13, 2009 - Citiwire

Michael Jackson's life would have been incredibly different (read: more normal) and lasted longer if he lived in New York instead of L.A., argues Gigi Levangie Grazer. She says the isolating qualities of L.A. enabled the downfall of the King of Pop.

July 12, 2009 - The Huffington Post