Urban Issues
Small-town advocates argue that some communities that have been written off as dead are really just in the midst of change. Lack of population increase is often not because of dwindling interest, but fewer housing choices.
A state can try to compel its cities to build more, but the results are at best modest. As Gov. Jared Polis learned, even getting zoning reforms enacted can be an insurmountable challenge.
From claims about an "Agenda 21" to attacks on 15-minute cities, a range of conspiracy theories have taken aim at progressive ideas around urban mobility and city design.
Smart Growth America is restarting its annual reports on the best policies to promote safe and accessible streets. Howard County, Md., got a perfect 100.
It’s a trend that started before the pandemic, and it isn’t slowing down, thanks in part to hefty price increases for housing.
The Mississippi city's Mayor Toby Barker recalls the highs and lows of navigating COVID-19's delta and omicron waves.
Seattle, Houston, Atlanta and Tucson, Ariz., are among a small number of cities that lost population in the pandemic but now have more people than a decade ago. Finding those residents housing is a challenge, however.
"Trash Walker" Anna Sacks finds treasure in her neighborhood's refuse and shares the discoveries with her 400,000 online followers. She is part of a growing trend of "zero wasters" who patrol the city's streets.
It’s not easy to get a smaller city that’s been losing population growing again. Every town can’t be a high-tech hub. But an urban scholar has some ideas that might help some of them.
They have been transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic, with new challenges around public safety, homelessness and commercial real estate. A series of reports from the Brookings Institution explores the future of downtowns.
The declaration will allow state and local officials to more quickly distribute allocated funds for the nearly 37,000 immigrants temporarily residing in New York City, including 1,500 arrivals in just the last week.
Pro football represents a peculiar combination of high demand and low frequency that is a highly inefficient use of urban space. What cities need is housing.
The Safe Streets and Roads for All program, which provides direct funding to cities to make street improvements, is accepting applications. Other grants for transportation infrastructure are open or opening soon as well.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Lauren F. Louis said the 2022 map preserved the ethnic composition of the five-seat commission and that a goal of “diversity of representation” would benefit Miami.
Anthony Driver Jr. was one of the 9,000 Chicago residents who were robbed last year. But he’s also the president of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability and will help elect the city’s next police superintendent.
The County Council has passed legislation that would allow lawmakers to retroactively revoke planned unit developments if they inherit them from a former council member. Previously members could only modify or amend plans.
There’s a secret order to the way traffic moves in African cities — less regulated, more spontaneous.
The state’s Office of Public Advocacy is required to provide guardianship services for vulnerable adults, but recent turnover has increased workloads to approximately 1,600 cases per staff member. The agency wants it down to 60 each.
While the state’s two proposed bills targeting libraries and librarians failed, the effort to address what books libraries may stock and lend will appear in the next legislative session. Many of these bans target LGBTQ+ themes.
The Transportation Modernization Act will bring “choice lanes” to the state for the first time. Dubbed by some as "Lexus lanes," they will let drivers pay to bypass traffic, but aren’t likely to reduce congestion overall.
The city of Los Angeles uses a scoring system for subsidized housing gives Black and Latino people experiencing homelessness lower priority scores.
Officially, a victims assistance officer will help coordinate logistics and reimbursements in the wake of a homicide. But families say that rarely happens so they often take it upon themselves to investigate the crime.
A succession of mayors have tried and failed to eradicate the city’s rodent population. Now, Eric Adams has appointed Kathleen Corradi, a former schoolteacher and sustainability expert, to tackle the city's epic rat problem.
In our effort to make children’s play areas safe, we have taken some of the fun out of them. That's not the case in Europe, where the playgrounds are more adventurous and challenging.
Two centerpieces of Justin Bibb’s proposal are a $50 million plan to attract employers back to the city and a $15 million investment in the city’s southeast side. The City Council will review the plan in the coming days.
Nice public restrooms are a genuine urban amenity. Big cities can afford to build more of them. Why don’t they?
Hilly Los Angeles has hundreds of outdoor staircases connecting residential neighborhoods with main streets.
As the rainy season begins for most of the country, a new report offers the first baseline assessment of the systems in place using green infrastructure to manage stormwater.
If the Supreme Court strikes down the Indian Child Welfare Act, states are worried that it would displace children from their tribal communities and culture. Lawmakers in several states have put forth legislation to codify ICWA protections.
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced an award of $21 million for 64 communities to coordinate transit, mobility, and land-use plans and navigate infrastructure funding opportunities.
Denver County averaged a 2.4 percent annual rate of population growth between 2011 and 2019, but between 2020 and 2022 it lost population at a rate of 0.3 percent. Some worry that Colorado has lost its appeal.
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