Refugees

Twin Cities Volunteers Help Recent Immigrants Navigate Transit
Showing refugee and immigrant residents how to use public transportation can improve access to essential services, jobs, and education, but a more robust transit system is needed to effectively serve all who need it.

Mobile Social Services Address Gaps in Suburban Colorado
In the Denver suburb of Aurora, nonprofits are using 'mobile public spaces' to reach refugees settling in the autocentric community.

Refugees Learn to Survive as Pedestrians on Houston's Dangerous Streets
For one refugee family, living in Houston has meant facing a host of new challenges as they traverse the city’s roadways without a car.

Syrian Refugees in Small Town Vermont
Rutland, Vermont is scheduled to become home to 100 Syrian refugees, a prospect that has awoken passionate responses from the town's residents.

Record Number of People Displaced Around the World in 2015
The United Nations is calling for action in the face of a record number of people were displaced—more than half of all refugees around the world came from Syria, Afghanistan, or Somalia.

Urban Planners Have a Role to Play in Humanitarian Crises
"Humanitarians are conditioned to think about people, urban planners are conditioned to think about how the place affects people."
German Cities Rewrite Building Codes to Provide Homes for Refugees
Germany has reformed building codes in a marshaling of political will known as the "Culture of Welcome" for an expected one million refugees. German cities, many of them shrinking for decades, see the refugees as an opportunity and a responsibility.
Ikea Unleashes its Flat Pack Expertise on Emergency Shelters
A cheap, solar-powered hut designed by Ikea, in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, promises to revolutionize emergency housing for displaced persons.
Refugees Find Sanctuary in Urban Gardening
Melanie Eversley writes on the healing power of urban gardens and farms for refugees new to the U.S. who are looking for a taste of home.
Mogadishu Goes Tennessee
The Tennessee town of Shelbyville has become a new center for Somalian refugees. A new documentary looks at what the influx of this group has meant to the city and its people.
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