Demographics
Minorities Transform Metro Areas, Inch Closer to Majority
Minorities comprise in 2010 more than half the population in 22 of the largest metro areas in and 98 percent population growth in large metro areas from 2000 to 2010, a recent report by The Brookings Institute shows.
Many African-Americans Seeking Economic Solace in the South
A recent study by Queens College for the New York Times shows that more than 50% of African-Americans who left New York in 2009 moved to the South.
Detroit Census Confirms Unprecedented Desertion
Detroit's population plunged by 25% over the last decade, according to census figures - the largest decline of any major city in American history.
Dwindling Small Towns Fight Back
Census data shows that Lacrosse, WA (pop. 315) and other small, rural towns are getting smaller. Some blame the Conservation Reserve Program. But Lacrosse and many others aren't going quietly - they're fighting to hang on.
Mapping the Nation's Well-Being
Who's the happiest and healthiest of them all? The New York Times posts an interactive map of the national Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.
Moving Towards a Melting Pot
According to data from the most recent Census, segregation along racial lines has hit an 100-year low in seventy-five percent of U.S. metropolitan areas. Southern and Western cities have showed the most noticeable integration trends.
Five Observations from Three Years in China
I’ve spent much of the last three years working on transportation finance and planning issues in China, and Reason Foundation now has transportation policy projects up and running in the cities of Chongqing, Xi’an, and Beijing.
Where Americans Will Be in 2050
Where will Americans live? Everywhere. The third article in a three-part series based on Joel Kotkin's new book, "The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050," looks at where Americans will live and how our communities will grow to accommodate them.
Americans Moving Less, Getting Rooted
In the 1950s, nearly 1/5 of Americans moved each year. That trend is quickly reversing. Americans are now staying put in greater numbers than at any time since World War II, and experts have plenty of opinions on why that is.
A City To Live In
The tide is turning from the last half century, with population trends heading inward and urban from the sundered seas of suburbia.
The Geography of Netflix
By utilizing rental data Netflix makes freely available, the New York Times has published a Google Maps mashup illustrating the most popular rental titles in each zip code.
There's No Place Like Home
Joel Kotkin sees a trend in a 'New Localism'- people aren't moving around like they used to, and it's causing them to reengage with their communities.
Greenwich Bans Clotheslines in Public Housing
Greenwich cites concerns over aesthetics and liability.
Location, Location, Location: Brought To You By GIS
A new GIS-based service promises to improve on real estate agents by using GIS data to locate promising sites to locate for business.
Prescribing a Healthy Future For Charlotte
Charlotte faces a number of challenges in the 21st century, from rising immigration to declining industry to sprawl. This Citistates Report suggests one strategy to harbor a healthy future: go green.
School Closures Hurting Canadian Communities
Its birth rate declining, Canada is facing an unprecedented drop in school enrollments, leading to a wave of closures.
A Move Back into Cities Indicates Changing Middle-Class Mores
Author Alan Ehrenhalt says that conditions are ripe for the permanent return of downtown residential neighborhoods, and that a "demographic inversion" has already begun in Manhattan, Chicago and Washington, DC, among other cities.
Is Detroit Half-Empty, Or Half-Full?
Two years ago I saw John Norquist, former Mayor of Milwaukee and current President and CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism, give a presentation on the state of America’s cities. During the slide show, Norquist used two sets of images to effectively convey a point about urban disinvestment in America. The first set of images was of Berlin and Detroit circa 1945. Unsurprisingly, the Berlin image displayed a war-torn and rubble-strewn city, while the Detroit image revealed why it was once called the Paris of the Midwest -- it was simply elegant. However, the second set of images displayed the same two cities 60 years later. It was as if Detroit had been through an epic war and not Berlin.
Boomer Megacities: Tokyo As a Barometer for the Developed World?
I had heard stories about this the last time I visited Japan in 2004, but this month's Tokyo city briefing from The Economist brought this trend back to my attention. It seems retiring boomers are abandoning their suburban bedroom communities to return to the metropolitan core - presumably to be near friends, cultural attractions, and other amenities (health care? education?). I've seen rumblings of this as well in the New York metro area.
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
