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.
While U.S. housing stock is up 29 percent, Las Vegas stands out as the epicenter of the trend, with listings soaring 77 percent across the metro area.
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For many citizens, their first — and sometimes only — interaction with their government is a call to a citizen engagement center.
The data shows that while many households didn’t respond, those who did mostly used the Internet. The low response rate sets the county at 63rd out of Florida’s 67 counties.
The Municipal Transit Agency acknowledged its racist history and pledged to make meaningful progress against anti-Black racism, including bias analysis and reporting.
Rendered in wood, steel or cement, the classic picnic table is an ever-present part of America. We explore the many places you can find them.
When you zip into a space and don’t pay for it, somebody is still footing the bill. It’s not just somebody else – it’s you. You’re paying for the traffic jams and pollution you’re getting stuck with.
Florida has had to establish a resilient power system with underground lines to ensure that customers retain power despite hurricanes and tropical storms. Now Oklahoma City is considering the switch.
Urban and suburban America need each other more than ever. The coronavirus is making their relationship difficult as remote work changes the status quo and increases the competition for talent.
In a demonstration flight, the Electric EEL flew from Maui’s airport to Hana and back entirely on a single hybrid-electric charge. The company says the plane is like a Prius in the sky, and it’s the first of its kind.
Annapolis’ police chief hopes the program will combat the state’s 40 percent recidivism rate by providing people with an education for trade work or counseling services. It’s helped 144 people since June.
In the 2010 Census, Alaska Natives and Native Americans were the most undercounted group. This year, if they wanted to increase the accuracy of the count, they had to risk the spread of COVID-19.
By defining the downtown Loop more than a century ago, elevated trains and tracks gave the city a vibrant economic and cultural center. It's a core element that other cities don't have.
It shouldn't be about Republicans favoring suburbs or Democrats favoring cities. Cities and their suburbs will succeed or fail together. We need reforms and dialogue that benefit both.
Two U.S. cities were chosen to participate in a global initiative to test new technologies and policies for a more sustainable and equitable cityscape. Also joining in the pilot project is San Jose, Calif.
Well-intentioned transportation projects during the COVID-19 pandemic to slow or remove traffic from city streets tended to serve mostly wealthy, white neighborhoods, said equity activists at the CoMotion LA conference.
Due to healthcare’s racist history, many people of color are nervous that the COVID vaccine is being politically manipulated to seem safe. There will need to be a systemic shift for people of color to build medical trust.
Charlotte's majority-millennial city council has accomplished a few things, but mostly what its members have done is squabble with each other. Succeeding as a 'change agent' is harder than it might seem.
There’s a highway rest stop at Smyrna, Del., that’s so big and luxurious people get married there. How did that happen and what does it say about America’s tax-supported transportation priorities?
The city will reimagine a stretch of downtown Main Street into a bike- and pedestrian-friendly slow street in hopes of generating more retail and restaurant business. But no city money has been spent yet.
The city aims to be “the most resilient community in America,” not only by defending against rising sea level, but also by developing cyberdefenses, medical advances and supply chains to ensure an overall resilient community.
As the nation’s COVID-19 numbers spike, President-elect Joe Biden’s task force could encourage contact tracing apps as a way to slow the spread. Less than half of the states are currently using the technology.
The Board of Supervisors will consider a resolution to increase the county’s role in addressing systemic racism and to establish an oversight committee. Half of the county’s residents are nonwhite.
The state hopes to get bidders for its contact tracing program that would use Bluetooth signals from mobile devices to track the spread of COVID-19. Part of the program would use Google and Apple’s contact tracing tech.
We think we know it when we see it, but no one's come up with a perfect way to describe it in our complex metro landscape. A look at population data is a helpful place to begin.
Retrofitting ordinary curb space from free parking into “complete streets” will be a good move financially and aesthetically for all sorts of stakeholders. Incremental, bottoms-up approaches work the best.
Gov. Ned Lamont announced last week that the state would begin embracing a COVID-19 contact tracing smartphone app. But the app’s success is dependent on whether or not residents use it.
The massive transit proposal only lost by 1,000 votes out of nearly 400,000 cast, but election officials aren’t inclined to ask for a recount. Many think that the pandemic and an overwhelmed electorate contributed to the failure.
Butler County Job and Family Services have expanded their online services to allow clients to access Medicaid, food and cash assistance remotely. Officials hope that the services are now more accessible.
The winners in this year’s Digital Cities survey have long been following well-laid plans for modernizing infrastructure, cybersecurity and citizen services, meaning they were prepared to stand up to the pandemic.
Most of the state has seen large Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the wake of the death of George Floyd and other Black people, but for some rural towns being a BLM ally means death threats and harassment.
An external audit found that Black residents are more likely to be arrested and have force used against them. The report stops short of connecting the behavior to racial discrimination, but it suggests it as a possibility.
