Urban Renewal

In the 1960s and 70s, Chinatowns were threatened by highway development in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. None of the proposed highways was built, thanks to concerted efforts by the Chinese communities.

January 21, 2011 - Price Tags

Braddock has become the poster child for a sort of bootstrap revitalization - an attitude that Levi's wants to rub off on their jeans. In exchange for using Braddock as a brand enhancer, the company built Braddock a community center.

November 9, 2010 - Next American City

So says APA President Mitchell Silver, AICP, in a recent interview. "...but planners were the agents, they had to implement it."

November 5, 2010 - Model D Newsletter

A waterfront redevelopment project in Port Harcourt is drawing fire from human rights advocates.

November 5, 2010 - The Guardian

Portland has five "eco-district" pilot projects in the works. The first two are expected to begin implementation over the next year, and organizers are hoping they lead to more sustainability efforts throughout the city.

October 27, 2010 - Sustainable Business Oregon

Mary Newsom reviews a new book on New York City by Roberta Brandez Gratz, and finds lessons that cross borders even into her very different city of Charlotte.

September 20, 2010 - The Charlotte Observer

The latest planning exhibition at the Center for Architecture has a "certain 1970s openness, a live-and-let-live philosophy, a crunchy impression enhanced by the bicycles hanging in the Center’s double-height display window," says Alexandra Lange.

July 30, 2010 - The Architect's Newspaper

Neal Peirce describes how Baltimore's first mixed income neighborhood since WWII is taking shape on the east side just north of the Johns Hopkins campus.

June 28, 2010 - Citiwire

To ensure its longevity, developers of London's Olympic Park have made integration of its facilities into a larger urban renewal plan a priority.

June 24, 2010 - WSJ.com

Residents of Birmingham, Alabama are rallying against a drive-through Chick-fil-A going up in their neighborhood, showing a growing awareness of the effect of development on the character of their community.

May 29, 2010 - The Birmingham News

Witold Rybczynski says that people have lost their faith in city-driven urban planning, and that the private marketplace is driving the changes we need today.

April 5, 2010 - Slate

An extensive redevelopment program is planned for East London, in an area one commenter calls "the land that God forgot."

March 5, 2010 - The New Statesman

That's what a consultant told Robert L. Hubbard, city director of planning and community development of Gardner, Massachussetts, about the city's infrastructure. Gardner intends to build on those bones with an urban renewal plan.

January 18, 2010 - Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Barry Johnson of The Oregonian looks back at Portland's urban renewal program, what was lost in the demolition of neighborhoods and what was gained.

December 17, 2009 - The Oregonian

Mayor John Fetterman of Braddock, PA struggles with the challenges of reviving a former steel town that has lost 90% of its peak population.

December 30, 2008 - Monthly Review

One of the most interesting things that I have learned in school thus far is the history of the urban renewal program.  As a budding urban planner, I have often used the term “urban renewal” interchangeably with “urban revitalization” to describe the process of neighborhood improvement via economic and housing development.  Regardless of the term I used, I was very clear that revitalization – or renewal – was a catch-22.  The implementation of business and housing developments would jumpstart a neighborhood deemed blighted and consequently, only affluent residents could afford to enjoy the amenities of the revitalized neighborhood.

October 13, 2008 - Tamika Camille Gauvin

In post-Katrina New Orleans, a fine line exists between razing potentially deadly structures, and harnessing a zeal for wholesale redevelopment.

October 7, 2008 - New Orleans City Business

The expansion of a Baltimore hospital has sparked a neighborhood-wide urban renewal project.

August 8, 2008 - The New York Times

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.

August 1, 2008 - The New Republic

The Guardian U.K. observes that the end of cheap oil is changing driving habits, boosting public transit use and encouraging localization. In short, they are making America a bigger place.

July 9, 2008 - The Guardian