Urban Cores

Downtown Neighborhoods Lead In New Apartment Construction
Neighborhoods in urban cores are seeing the highest rates of new apartment construction in the last five years, signaling a continued interest in downtown living despite fears of an 'urban exodus' brought on by the pandemic.

Op-Ed: Downtown Denver's Homogenous Renaissance
There's a lot to like about the resurgence of downtown cores. But as is the case elsewhere, Denver's core has only attracted a small subset of the wider city's population. Most people still call the suburbs home.

Philadelphia Gentrification: A Historical Perspective
Gentrified in the 1960s during the height of urban renewal, Society Hill is a historical precedent as Philadelphia confronts present-day gentrification.

Minorities Have Dominated Millennial Urban Growth
Despite the impression that young white people have reshaped cities' demographics, research shows that non-white Millennials account for the greater part of that growth.

Dormant Inner Suburbs and the Affordability Crisis
Richard Florida takes a look at a new report that traces the affordability crisis to cities' inability to densify their older, inner suburbs.
Dallas Puts New Downtown Light Rail Line on the Fast Track
The Dallas City Council has given preliminary approval to a proposed light rail line, currently called D2, which would add service capacity to the downtown core.

Where Los Angeles Equals San Francisco's Density
Though the Los Angeles region is very dense, significant barriers to transit-oriented planning remain. Based on this analysis, the lack of a central urban core shouldn't be one of them.

More Evidence for the 'New Donut' Model of Metropolitan Areas
Spatial analysis of income and education over time in U.S cities provides further evidence for the “New Donut” theory of the city. Wealthier and more educated residents are more likely to move to the urban core or exurbs than to inner-ring suburbs.
Proposing a New Model for Regional Stratification: 'The New Donut'
Aaron Renn presents a new model for conceptualizing the health of the many layers of communities that make up metropolitan regions, namely the "new donut."
Could Growth In Urban Cores Remedy Problematic Gentrification?
The argument that increased supply of urban housing will lower prices is rapidly being disproved by successive waves of gentrification throughout American cities. Stephen Smith offers a considered analysis of the economics behind this dynamic.
Suburban Growth Still Leads, But in Changing Ways
Suburban population growth in the U.S. is still on the rise, but new trends show that those suburbs closest to urban cores and those farthest away are driving the growth.
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