Community Development
The Controversy Over Sports Stadiums Continues
It appears that everyone is talking about the impact that sports stadiums have on urban economic development. As soon as one person says they're a terrible idea, another article will retort the benefits brought to a given city.
The Makings of a "Just City"
At the Ford foundations 75th anniversary, Citiwire’s Neal Peirce reports how “ground urban strategies in inclusion and equity” is the secret to a “Just City.”
Community Gathers Around Guerrilla Coffee Table
Los Angeles Designer Julie Kim thinks the city is missing out on an opportunity at public transit hubs to create an environment that promotes interaction. So, Kim spruces up a bus stop with a coffee table and flowers and video records the results.
Food Trends
A comment I hear frequently from planners is that the focus on food and planning is “trendy”. I must admit that this puzzles me quite a bit. Professional planners in rural areas have concentrated on planning for agriculture – food planning – for decades. Before we had professional planners, human populations planned their communities around food, whether they were planning how best to follow herds for hunting, structuring early agricultural societies, or developing the first cities where food proximity and trade were central considerations.
Developer Appointed As Planning Director
In a controversial move, new Florida Governor Rick Scott has appointed Billy Buzzett, vice-president at a development company, to lead the state's Department of Community Affairs.
Move Over Suburbia... For "Prefurbia"?
Twin Cities developer and software guru Rick Harrison believes that, through innovative urban design configurations such as 'coving,' suburban areas can be transformed from "disdainable to sustainable."
Should Retrofitting Our Suburbs Take Center Stage?
In this opinion piece from The Huffington Post, Alex Becker argues that retrofitting suburban landscapes with denser development trumps all other sustainability agendas as the single most important path to a more sustainable future.
Why People Love Their Communities
Appreciation of diversity, social offerings, and aesthetics trump jobs, economy, and safety according to a new survey by Gallup/Knight.
Community-Supported Businesses on the Rise
Stacy Mitchell reports on the growing trend of micro-financing, where small business people turn to the local community to get the funding they need to open restaurants or small shops.
Residents Get More Say in Redevelopment
A scandal over bonuses and the recession leads to change in project to redevelop Southeast San Diego, but some critics want to see more construction, not just kumbaya.
HUD Hearts Portland
Obama's brand new Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities admits to being inspired by Portland's groundbreaking urban planning policies.
Operation Neighborhood Recovery
Shelterforce magazine takes a look at one of the hardest hit areas in New Jersey by the ongoing foreclosure crisis, and a first-in-the-nation property acquisition project that aims to stabilize neighborhood in decline.
Texas Prairie Endangered By Stimulus Funding
A proposed toll road near Houston exemplifies an unintended effect of the stimulus: encouraging sprawl.
Piecing Neighborhoods Together Out Of Foreclosures
In Detroit, a couple bought a foreclosure for $1900. They've been steadily piecing together a community out of their neighborhood ever since.
New York's Pedestrian Malls: Architects and Planners Weigh In
Six architects, planners, public intellectuals and authors give their differing opinions on Bloomberg's plan to turn Broadway into a pedestrian-only space.
The Underground Railroad Bicycle Route
The Center for Minority Health and the Adventure Cycling Association partnered to create a bike trail stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Ontario. The trail was recognized at the 19th Annual Trails Symposium.
Community Participation Shapes Katrina Recovery
Steven Bingler of Concordia Planning and Architecture discusses the process and thinking behind the Unified New Orleans Plan, which engaged large numbers of citizens to plan the recovery of their neighborhoods in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Tornado Clears Way for LEED Platinum Building
The 5-4-7 Arts Center in Greensburg, Kansas gets a LEED platinum designation- evidence that the town, which was 95% destroyed by a tornado in May, 2006, is making good on its sustainable rebuilding plan.
Developer Smackdown in San Diego
A real estate developer in San Diego is turning activist, claiming a new residential development isn't working within the community guidelines. San Diego CityBeat suspects something else is happening here.
Students Bring Neighborhood's Plans to Life
Students in Ohio State University's City and Regional Planning department worked closely with the Franklinton neighborhood in Columbus to create a new vision for the community.
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.
Caltrans
Smith Gee Studio
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
