Economic Recovery

How Salt Lake City Maintained a Vibrant Downtown
Unlike other major cities, the Utah capital’s downtown has seen a steady stream of visitors even as demand for office space diminishes.

Salt Lake City Bucks Downtown Decline Trend
The city’s central business district is bustling with more activity than before the pandemic.

Pandemic-Era Economic Growth in Metropolitan Areas
The world has gone through three turbulent years of Covid-19. The Brookings Institution continues its analysis of inclusive economic growth in 192 metropolitan areas in the U.S. during this period with the publication of Metro Monitor 2023.

Austin Scores Highest on Pandemic Recovery; Bay Area and Baltimore Lowest
The Bay Area Council and CBRE created an economic tracker to measure how well the nation's 25 largest metropolitan areas have recovered from the public health restrictions imposed on their regions at the onset of the pandemic.

Houston’s Restaurant Resurgence Points to Economic Recovery
The city’s restaurants are bouncing back faster than other industries, providing a key source of jobs.

Analysis of Downtown Recoveries Reveals Post-Pandemic Winners and Losers
The recovery of U.S. downtowns is happening at widely different paces depending on which city you consider.

Downtown San Francisco Still Looking for a Post-Pandemic Comeback
“Downtown on the Brink” reads the headline of a recent San Francisco Chronicle feature.

Third Round of Indian Community Block Grant Funding Announced
The American Rescue Plan included $280 million in funding for the Indian Community Development Block Grant program. A third round of funding announced in January adds $84 million to that total.

'Supporting Shrinkage': Lessons for U.S. Cities
An excerpt from "Supporting Shrinkage: Better Planning and Decision-Making for Legacy Cities," written by Michael P. Johnson, Justin B. Hollander, Eliza W. Kinsey, and George R. Chichirau and published by SUNY Press.

Delta Variant Slowing the Construction Industry
The spike in Covid-19 caused by the highly contagious Delta Variant is slowing the economic recovery in numerous sectors of the economy—case in point the construction industry.

Small-Scale Manufacturing Can Maximize the Potential of America's Small Cities
Artisans and small-scale manufacturers offer tremendous economic opportunities for cities prepared to harness that creative and entrepreneurial energy.

The World's Economic Bailout Came With Huge Environmental Costs
The world collectively spent on $17 trillion economic stimulus during the pandemic. The vast majority of that spending will make climate change and other environmental pollution much worse.

Why Central Business Districts Need Diverse Users
Central districts benefit from diversity, but a century of disinvestment and exodus has put many in a precarious position.

$425 Million in Rent Relief Never Reached Those in Need
A damning investigation reveals the immense financial resources that states could have spent on rent relief but failed to do so, whether willfully or not.

Rent Control Showdown in Minnesota
Republicans in the Minnesota State Legislature ditched an effort to block voters in the Twin Cities from implementing rent stabilization laws.

How Some Main Street Businesses Survived the Pandemic
Despite the economic blow dealt by last year's lockdowns, business districts in smaller cities like Wilkes-Barre managed to weather the crisis.

Columnist: New York City Needs Economic Recovery Strategies Other Than Gentrification
It's a tale of two cities as New York starts to emerge from the pandemic.

The Future of Downtowns Still Hangs in the Balance
Center City in Philadelphia offers a case study for one of the largest and potentially most consequential contingencies of the pandemic: What happens to downtowns is most workers never come back to the office?

How Legacy Cities Can Support Equitable Development
A new report outlines seven strategies for balancing economic development and equity specifically aimed at smaller, post-industrial cities.

Biden Learning From the Unrealistic Expectations of Past Economic Stimulus Efforts
Taking lessons from his time working in the Obama administration, President Biden is tempering promises of quick job creation with long-term reinvestment.
Pagination
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.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research