Urban Planning
Can building luxury condos fix the affordable housing crisis?
Aren’t all these new luxury towers just making the housing crisis worse? The answer is more complicated than you think.
The new American suburb: diverse, dense, and booming
A new report forecasts a coming growth spurt that will reshape suburban living
How Chicago’s industrial past may fuel a high-tech future and real estate boom
Potential changes to zoning rules meant to protect the city’s manufacturing could radically reshape Chicago
Great Places in America: 15 exceptional streets, neighborhoods, and parks
Urban gems with personality that exemplify planning excellence
5 ways Americans are making non-traditional homes work
Martin reveals five insights she discovered while researching her book, The New Better Off, about how our homes are changing—including smart solutions she saw for making our living situations even better.
List of best cities for people with disabilities topped by Kansas town
The midwestern city ranked first in the nation for income and healthcare for residents with disabilities. See where your city stacks up.
How 4 cities are using manufacturing to build equitable economies
A new report from the Equitable Innovation Economies Initiative argues industry can foster diverse, dynamic growth
How Louisiana is relocating a community threatened by climate change
An unprecedented move on the Gulf Coast may form the blueprint for a looming, 21st century challenge
Obama’s new housing toolkit aims to make cities more affordable
Wealthy communities have pulled up the ‘ladders of opportunity’ from lower-income residents, says the White House.
Could police keep the peace by walking more beats?
New policing programs that encourage cops to walk instead—called "foot beats"—are proving that walking can be transformative for neighborhood safety.
Zurich is the world’s most sustainable city
It’s official: Zurich—the Swiss capital known for its high quality of life, popular public transit system, and thriving finance industry—is top of the 2016 Sustainable Cities Index.
Jane Jacobs was ‘bitchy’ and ‘never beautiful,’ claims casually sexist biography
Also, she was ‘fat and dumpy,’ according to the book
How socially conscious design can help solve the country’s toughest problems
Perfectly timed for campaign season, the exhibit "By the People: Designing a Better America" showcases creative solutions to entrenched issues.
How will driverless cars coexist with pedestrians?
New Silicon Valley startup Drive.ai seeks to create vehicle communication systems with personality, poise, and above all, the power to prevent accidents.
New floating shipping container dorms offer an affordable alternative
Urban Rigger is a startup that builds modular floating dorms out of shipping containers meant to occupy urban harbors.
China’s ambitious infrastructure projects are harming its economy
An Oxford report found half of Chinese infrastructure built in the last 30 years wasn’t worth the cost of construction.
How plant-covered buildings improve urban life
A new report shows that greenery-lined structures combat both pollution and stress
Grassroots urban design gets boost with new global initiative
A New York-based non-profit, Project for Public Spaces, wants to support international placemaking projects as urbanization picks up across the globe.
Mini “forests” encourage visitors to take a break from city life
Three compact structures filled with plants have been placed around Shoreditch’s busy streets, creating miniature forests that provide a semi-private place of rest within a public context.
How an architecture firm wants to revitalize the Rust Belt
The Civic Commons proposal suggests we don't need to rebuild our neighborhoods; we just need to reimagine what's already there
Anti-gentrification “creative zones” will help artists in London
The plan would make London housing and workspace more affordable for workers in creative industries
How a new app empowers students to make sidewalks safer for their walks to school
A Pokémon Go for junior planners, Traffic Agent lets students report problems on their walk to school, and reshape the pedestrian landscape in Oslo
Chicago’s new smart sensor network is a game changer for city data
A new high-tech network that collects street-level city data will make the Midwest metropolis the City of Big Sensors
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Paradise in limbo: The trouble with saving the Jersey Shore’s Googie motels
Wildwood’s time-capsule motels reveal the risk of preservation at all costs
How this city planner is helping great ideas cross the U.S.-Mexican border
Pablo Aguilar believes a new type of collaboration can help border cities across the world work together on shared challenges
Elevated walkway provides peaceful, tree-lined respite outside of Paris
Geneva-based industrial design studio Compagnie des Rues has created "La rue des utopies," an elevated wooden promenade that snakes through a grove of lime trees as part of a biennial of creative public furniture meant to diversify the architecture of La Défense.
How night mayors are proving the economic and cultural value of robust nightlife
While nightlife often gets stigmatized and undervalued, progressive club coalitions and night mayors are making an economic and cultural argument for a vital after-hours economy
Can San Diego’s ambitious environmental plan make it a test case for green urbanism?
The city of 1.3 million set ambitious, laudable, and legally binding sustainability goals in December. But making the Climate Action Plan a reality is a completely different challenge.
How a fitness app for cyclists is reshaping city planning
Strava started as an app to help map your rides. Now, its data is being harnessed to transform the urban landscape.
Our streets are killing us
Traffic deaths will continue to increase unless cities prioritize humans over cars.
Urban air pollution is worse than we think—but better data might solve the problem
MIT researchers made jaw-dropping discoveries by changing the way they measure exposure to air pollution.
Can a city be too tall? Londoners think so, says new study
A Brexit-style poll reveals Londoners want to limit skyscraper development
A U.S. and Mexican city want to build a cross-border bike trail
Forget a wall: Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas, believe a cross-border bike trail can help both cities.
U.S. cities are increasingly segregated by income, and that's a big problem
One in five citydwellers now live in a very poor or very wealthy neighborhood
New city rankings lower scores across U.S. due to civil unrest, terrorism concerns
The Economist’s latest global survey of major urban centers docks U.S. cities for instability; none crack the top 10
An Olympic planner on how cities can benefit from the games
Bill Hanway of AECOM on Rio's unfolding legacy and the right way for a city to approach the Olympics.
10 cities committed to a 100% clean energy future
Renewable energy is something that most people can agree is a great idea, but like learning a second language or getting in shape, quickly becomes something that’s pushed off into the indefinite future. But it doesn't have to be that way.
Why urban green roofs aren't just pretty gardens
In the latest installment of Engineered Nature, Karrie Jacobs explores the world's largest rooftop farms in Brooklyn and Chicago and discovers the place where high tech strategies and mother nature meet.
How Michigan’s capital fixed its lead pipe problem
A decade ago, Lansing, Michigan started replacing its aging water pipes before lead levels endangered its citizens. But there’s more to learn from how this city handled its water.