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 president’s deployment of the military to our cities undermines a critical constitutional safeguard for democracy. Just look at what’s happened in some other countries.
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.
San Francisco will begin moving over 500 homeless people out of hotel rooms that were provided as temporary shelter during COVID-19. Advocates are concerned that many will end up back on the streets.
The pavement along the edge of the street is an asset with untapped value for better managing transportation needs. This prime urban land shouldn't just be for free car storage.
A recent study examined projects to reduce car use and increase walking and biking on neighborhood streets in five cities, offering a look into how transportation data can be used to craft similar future projects.
After COVID-19 caused ridership to plummet, the city has revealed plans for reopening the Metropolitan Transit that include sneeze barriers, better air circulation, regular sanitization and reduced rider capacity.
More structures are at risk than ever before, and there's a lot that could be done to protect them and improve community resilience. The benefits far outweigh the costs.
While the average Internet speed is around 100 megabits per second, some of the state’s Black Belt communities have only 0.16 mbs. As the pandemic forces life online for work and school, the poor neighborhoods get left behind.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced $12.7 million in grants to bring high speed Internet to underserved communities across the state. Approximately 1.2 million households do not have a permanent broadband connection at home.
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Dayton and Yellow Springs are among several cities that are using some of their CARES Act funding to expand broadband access. Dayton plans to spend $1.4 million in certain neighborhoods lacking high-speed connectivity.
