Housing and Urban Issues
Stresses on urban communities continue to affect housing, food security, child services, homelessness, business development and crime. Coverage includes stories about new solutions to how cities are run, how they develop as urban centers and about the people who live there.
Matt Privratsky was appointed to serve as an interim city council member in St. Paul after the previous member resigned. He’ll cast some consequential votes.
Kia and Hyundai auto thefts “exploded” last summer when social media users began posting how-to videos aimed at exploiting the security defect in the vehicles, according to the lawsuit.
The new state’s Attorney Ivan Bates had announced June 1 that he would resume prosecuting petty crimes, like drinking in public. His goal is to hold people accountable for quality-of-life crimes.
About 3.3 million state residents live in an area considered to be a food desert by USDA guidelines. Nationally, 17.4 percent of the population has limited access to affordable and nutritious food.
Despite the former president’s claims, data shows violent crime is down more than 20 percent across the city and for the first time in four years homicides were down amid efforts to curb deadly violence.
The city’s homicide rate was up 80 percent, car break-ins were up nearly 90 percent, vehicle thefts have doubled and reported assaults increased 40 percent as compared to pre-pandemic numbers in 2019.
Ghana's spirituality informs its approach to governing. It shows up in everything from the way streets are used to the belief that unity is strength.
It's the world’s most popular music genre, and some of its stars are making big investments in their communities. People who work on building local economies should pay attention and nurture this opportunity.
Downtown activity in Utah's capital city is far greater than it was even before the pandemic, according to some reports. While parts of the local economy still struggle, tourism has roared back.
Sometimes they work, producing public revenue and neighborhood development. But some of them turn out to be civic disasters. Is there a formula for mixed-use magic?
In developing nations, rules written by governments and corporations alike are understood as a tool for extortion.
Mayor Matt Mahan recently held a press conference to further stress the city’s “zero tolerance policy” for public drug crimes and reinforced the need for arrests and treatments. But it remains unclear if the crackdown will make a meaningful impact.
A federal court officially repealed California’s 2020 law that would have banned private immigrant detention facilities in the state; now other states are scaling back their legislation, hoping less severe policies will pass.
Allowing greater building height hasn’t proved consistently successful for cities, and it's a fantasy that Washington's city center could ever resemble Paris’ stately boulevards. But perhaps it’s time to try some experimentation.
Americans turned to parks for physical and mental relief during the pandemic. New research by the Trust for Public Land explores connections between urban parks and health.
By comparing the operating efficiency of 149 of the largest U.S. cities, experts at WalletHub, the personal finance firm, have come up with a score for which ones are managed best.
Taking downtown residential is an attractive idea. But it’s not the ultimate solution to central city decline.
Workplace and financial realities will require city leaders, property owners and lenders to take action to break the cycle and reimagine downtowns.
Public arrest data from 2018 to 2022 revealed that Black people made up 69 percent of arrests for possession of 2 ounces or less of marijuana, but they make up about 24 percent of Dallas’ population.
Three years after the Denver Public Schools’ Board of Education voted unanimously to phase out school resource officers, some board members are now ready to reverse the policy as gun violence among teens in the area rises.
Operators must request a permit to fly the drone a month before the flights, must be insured and have prior authorization from the FAA. They must also indicate exactly what they intend to record and the NYPD can deny any request.
Digital solutions can modernize construction, increase safety and improve return on investments. But the traditional ways of purchasing and contracting are unsuited to the rapid pace of technological change.
The federal government claims that the state’s Department of Public Health has demonstrated patterns of inaction and neglect surrounding health risks of raw sewage in Lowndes County, a majority-Black county.
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.
Houses of worship are experiencing a great emptying, becoming disconnected from their communities as congregations shrink. Jane Jacobs had some ideas that could help churches and their cities thrive.
Policymakers and scholars have recently made a push to prioritize the hours when cities are supposedly asleep. Smart technology can help municipalities govern the night.
It takes hours to drive into the center in many developing nations' cities. Can the problem be solved? Not easily.
So far this year there have been 76 homicides, which is nine more than this time last year. Over the span of 72 hours throughout the Memorial Day weekend, there were seven homicide scenes across the city.
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.
