Phoenix

“Reinvent Phoenix” Seeks to Cultivate Change Along the City's Light Rail Corridor

A multi-agency planning effort is hoping to boost Phoenix's sustainability by creating a new model for urban development around the city's emerging transit corridor.

March 21, 2013 - Global Site Plans - The Grid

Phoenix Confronts the Challenges of Inland Climate Change

Much attention has been paid recently to the challenges that a changing climate are bringing to coastal communities. But "inland empires" aren't immune. Phoenix's struggles with heat, drought, and violent winds are a presage of things to come.

March 15, 2013 - Los Angeles Times

In a City Enamored with the New, Preservation is a Hard Sell

Recent headlines over the fight to protect a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for his son in Phoenix touch upon the city's larger struggle to protect its dwindling cache of historic buildings, reports Fernanda Santos.

October 22, 2012 - The New York Times

Making the Grass Greener, By Any Means Necessary

With drought conditions not seen in the U.S. since the middle of the last century, the battle to maintain the lushest lawn in the neighborhood has heated up. The Dirt bloggers report on the growing trend of lawn painting.

August 23, 2012 - THE DIRT

If You Can't Stand the Heat....Stay Out of Phoenix

Already the hottest major American city, Peter O'Dowd describes how planners in Phoenix are preparing for the increased sizzle brought on by global warming.

August 17, 2012 - NPR

A Wish List for Enlivening Downtown Phoenix

Edward Jensen responds to a recent attention grabbing op-ed in The Arizona Republic with his own list of priorities to help enliven the core of the sixth-largest city in the country.

July 14, 2012 - Technology for a Digital Generation

Phoenix Struggles to Fill Its Big Vacant Boxes

Phoenix has a sizable dilemma, how to fill the growing number of closed supermarkets, electronics superstores and mega bookstores that continue to weigh down the area's real-estate market, reports Max Jarman.

April 11, 2012 - The Arizona Republic

The Secrets to Stadium Success

Eric Jaffe looks to a new study published in the Journal of Urbanism comparing the triumphs and failures of new baseball fields in Denver and Phoenix for lessons on how to build a successful downtown stadium.

March 29, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Should Phoenix Exist?

Emma Marris reviews a new book by Andrew Ross, a cultural critic at New York University, that tries to understand how Phoenix came to be what it is, and determine whether there's any way it can be turned around.

March 18, 2012 - OnEarth

HOV-to-HOT Conversion Seen as Key to Easing Congestion

Robert Poole reports on efforts across the country to reduce freeway congestion through HOV-to-HOT conversion and public-private partnerships.

February 27, 2012 - reason.com

On the Front Lines of the Future: New Orleans, Detroit, Phoenix

What do New Orleans, Detroit, and Phoenix all have in common? Each one has confronted some of our most pressing challenges of our time and has a lesson of survival to teach us.

January 22, 2012 - Practicing Architecture

Shrinkage in Phoenix? Call it 'Smart Decline'

Shrinkage -- the term long associated with rust belt cities like Detroit and Cleveland that saw their heydays 60 years ago and have been in decline since -- is now being applied to Phoenix and other fast-growing areas of the Southwest and Sun Belt.

December 29, 2011 - National Public Radio - Morning Edition

What Yesterday’s Elections Results Mean for Cities and City Government Across the U.S.

If you can make it past rhetoric around healthcare, abortion, collective bargaining, and immigration, the November 8th election results tell a more cohesive and calming story about American’s political sentiment.

November 9, 2011 - Jess Zimbabwe

Sustainability and Affordability Don't Always Go Hand in Hand

Op-ed columnist Andrew Ross notes that while some progressive cities are being lauded for sustainable, green design, most American cities struggle to achieve sustainable results that are available to all residents.

November 8, 2011 - The New York Times

The Fizzled Vision for a "Megapolitan" Sun Belt

Only 7 short years ago, planners in the Phoenix/Tuscon area were envisioning a region of 10 million people. Today they're scaling back the predictions, but still have hope for a recovery.

October 25, 2011 - The Arizona Daily Star

Parkspace Brings Neighborhood Feel to Downtown Phoenix

A new public park in downtown Phoenix is both a venue for artists and performers and a public space that calls to mind a small neighborhood park, according to this piece from Next American City.

July 21, 2011 - Next American City

Ancient Canals Offer Water Solution for Desert City

The ancient irrigation networks lying below Phoenix could offer a solution to the sprawling desert city's water problems.

March 13, 2011 - Archaeology

Physicist Tackles Urban Theory

Physicist Geoffrey West of the Santa Fe Institute applied his talents to unraveling urban issues like population growth in a similar vein that he did earlier with biology. He found answers that explain how all cities work if enough data is supplied.

December 20, 2010 - The New York Times - Magazine

Suburbs Go Head To Head With The City

"With cities worldwide busy repurposing their industrial districts and docklands as upmarket housing and waterfront retail centres, the suburbs need to find a new competitive edge," writes Sarah Murray.

September 12, 2010 - Financial Times

Building Boom In Land Of Foreclosures

It seems inconceivable - building new homes next to new, vacant homes, but with depressed prices for land and labor a new market for home-buyers who missed out on foreclosure sales has developed in states hit worst by the housing crisis.

May 17, 2010 - The New York Times - Business Day

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.

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100 Most Influential Urbanists

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