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.
The plug was pulled five years ago on a Google plan to build a digitally connected neighborhood in Toronto. The innovative opportunities it suggested — and the privacy questions it raised — have not gone away.
Public stairways were originally built by the hundreds into the hills for a walking workforce that has nearly disappeared. But fans praise the role of the unique transportation system and continue to use them today.
It’s a fast-growing, multibillion-dollar industry that provides lots of jobs and consists mostly of small businesses. But it’s poorly understood by economic developers.
Local government agencies are working to reform building inspection requirements after a condo building collapsed in Surfside, Fla., last year, but some engineering experts say the proposed packages aren’t strong enough.
A proposed 43-mile route would connect North Carolina’s Johnston, Wake and Durham counties. Total cost could top $2 billion, with the feds paying half. The trains could carry as many as 12,000 people a day.
L.A. Metro bucked digital privacy concerns when it turned to technology to monitor and enforce dedicated bus lane rules. The move is a win that places the rights of bus riders above the privacy of offenders.
The $185 million construction project will be substantially completed by May 31. Hurricane Hanna, the February freeze in 2021 and the COVID-19 pandemic have all impacted the timeline.
New Jersey’s largest city, having already replaced 23,000 lead service lines to improve drinking water, will upgrade its water treatment plant to enhance taste, boost capacity and keep water costs low.
Electric buses, though costly, are beginning to make up more and more of the U.S. transit fleet. Here's a tool where you can look up how many electric buses a transit agency has, as well as how much it's driving them.
The city’s Planning Board voted unanimously to forward the Expanding Housing Affordability policy after changes were made to improve infrastructure impacts. But some believe the changes were also politically motivated.
The increasing restrictiveness of copyright threatens our commons of creative work that anyone can borrow from and build on. The public domain needs a physical capital where it could be celebrated and encouraged.
The $8 million, three-year pilot program will provide legal defense, in and out of court, to low-income renters who have experienced financial hardship due to the pandemic and are at risk of housing instability.
Back in the 1970s, the city of Prague pushed an ugly arterial road past some of its most precious landmarks. It’s trying to undo the damage.
About three-quarters of undocumented seniors live with younger family members, compared to only a quarter of the elderly who are U.S. citizens. There will be an estimated 55,000 undocumented seniors across the state by 2030.
The familiar grid has its detractors, but it also has strengths. Could an eccentric Spanish architect from the 1840s teach us how to do it right?
California’s first-in-the-nation task force to identify reparations for African Americans voted Tuesday to limit eligibility to those who can trace their lineage.
Digital redlining shares many things in common with traditional redlining, the deliberate withholding of loans and other key resources from residents of certain neighborhoods, largely along racial divides.
Starting April 11, the State Department will allow citizens to elect the “X” gender marker on passports, and other forms of documentation in 2023. The “X” is for unspecified or other gender identities besides male or female.
The city of Elk Grove uses an app that pushes citizens who participate in citywide housing density discussions to craft their own solutions, not just object to what has been proposed.
Racist urban planning in the 1930s still impacts Seattle’s neighborhoods today as people of color, especially Black and Hispanic Americans, are disproportionately affected by high levels of air pollution.
Public bodies are not required to record their meetings and many did so simply out of courtesy during the pandemic. As local governments return in person, some wonder if recording public meetings should be mandatory.
In the 1970s, the city created a new generation of homesteaders by practically giving away vacant homes. Now, the idea has been revitalized by a city councilor. But not everyone is convinced it will work.
In seeking support for a plan aimed at easing traffic with vehicle tolls, cities need to reach out early on to those who would be affected and address their concerns.
The state’s Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults program makes services more accessible to the elderly, regardless of immigration status, but it doesn’t provide extended care or at-home care, leaving large gaps in coverage.
The state pours $100 million annually into the system, with a proposed increase of $250 million this year, and yet it remains unable to keep staff and place troubled youths in the right places quickly.
A new report found that while harmful police tactics were reduced overall, there are still inequities. Last year the city’s police still used force on Black people 12 times more than white people and five times more than Hispanic people.
Nearly 50 percent of Gary residents are not subscribed to a broadband service. Town officials hope that $5 million of ARPA funds will eventually reduce that digital divide by 90 percent.
While not intended to be a permanent ban on Amazon’s autonomous personal delivery devices or the dispenser that houses them, it will allow the Washington city to address the safety and zoning issues surrounding the tech first.
Bicycle and transportation researchers in Nashville, Tenn., are pointing to the growing phenomenon of electric bikes as the Music City develops its multimodal approach to transportation.
After the Tennessee town's Board of Alderman passed a resolution to keep their 153-year-old charter, the Comptroller has begun a financial takeover, which will limit the authority of the town's elected officials.
Experts agree that certain issues, such as public safety, housing and inequities, must be addressed for the city’s downtown to fully recover from the economic devastations of the COVID-19 pandemic.
