Yesterday, I was in Miami with Mayor Manny Diaz who announced a new EcoZone initiative for his city, along with an impressive new Health District anchored by the University of Miami medical school. Mayor Diaz took the opportunity to drive Damlier-Chrysler's Gem car, an electric car that holds four and… more

Studentification, the phrase coined in 2002 to describe the effects of the increasing university population on the cities where they reside, is being more closely studied in the UK with the release of the report "Studentification: a Guide to Opportunities, Challenges and Practice."

The report identified the positive economic… more

Canadian author Michael M'Gonigle is urging the nation's universities to use their knowledge, power and prestige to contribute to the sustainability of Canada's cities.

Looking ahead to the upcoming UN Habitat meeting in Vancouver, M'Gonigle foresees, "the usual demands from the delegates — more money from the central governments, new… more

Summer Dance, held four nights a week in Chicago's Grant Park, is free, fun, and open to everyone. Held in a lovely public garden six blocks south of Millennium Park, Summer Dance is sponsored by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The first hour features lessons, the next… more

Americans have fewer friends. One in four of us say we have no one to talk to about important matters, according to a study reported in the June issue of the American Sociological Review. And instead of the three close friends we said we had in 1985, now we have… more

Jennifer Leonard of the National Vacant Properties Campaign offers this advice to urban leaders on how to tackle the problem of vacant properties in their communities:

Understand the costs of vacant and abandoned properties in your community, and don’t underestimate the opportunities they offer. Vacant and abandoned properties present… more

There is as much wind power potential (900,000 megawatts) off our coasts as the current capacity of all power plants in the United States combined, according to a new report sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, and General Electric. And the greatest wind… more

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom today was joined by Supervisor Tom Ammiano to announce his plan to provide healthcare to San Francisco’s uninsured residents. Called the San Francisco Health Access Plan (SF HAP),it provides an affordable alternative to health insurance that emphasizes prevention, provides comprehensive services, and promotes a choice… more

Cincinnati's remarkably successful program for improving infant mortaility rates is featured in today's Wall Street Journal as part of its continuing series on poverty and the search for solutions.

The program is called Every Child Succeeds, and it sends social workers and nurses to visit new moms in their homes to… more

What jobs are illegal immigrants doing in America?

According to data from the Pew Hispanic Center and the Bureau of Labor, they are cooks (436,000), contruction laborers (400,000), maids and housekeeping workers (342,000), grounds maintenance workers (299,000), carpenters (277,000), janitors and building cleaners (262,000), agricultural workers (247,000), painters, contruction and… more

San Francisco Mayor Newsom is set to unveil his universal healthcare access plan for the city today at 11:30 a.m. PDT. More to follow.

Dublin's Docklands are getting a makeover as public space surrounded by a leisure district. Landscape architect Martha Schwartz is "transforming its Grand Canal Square with a dazzling red crystal carpet made of colored resin embedded with matching glass "

It is wonderfully imaginative. See it at Metropolis Magazine.

In a response to Richard Florida's essay in Cato Unbound, MIT professor Frank Levy warns, "The Creative Class and Skill Biased Technical change require a new kind of education. But they also require a new institutional structure to distribute productivity gains in a reasonably equitable way. Markets, like… more

Douglas McLennan edits the marvelous artsjournal.com and in a recent column on the fading London art scene, he writes, "... thanks to a booming market, the ease of Internet marketing, and a traveling circus of major biennials, triennials and a new generation of art fairs, artists can enter the… more

Bill and Melinda Gates have quickly figured out how to make a real dent in the spread of serious disease in the developing world. But after spending $1 billion on education in six years, they still can't figure out how to fix America's schools, according to this week's Business Week.

It's… more

The Wall Street Journal reports that shrinking families, rising energy and mortgage costs and a growing number of retirement-age boomers are turning oversized houses, known as "McMansions," into dinosaurs. Based on interviews with dozens of real estate agents, sellers, developers and housing economists and analysis of zip codes with higher… more

Today, Chicago celebrates its 16th annual Bike to Work Rally. Thousands of bikers gathered downtown in Daley Plaza this morning for free breakfast and t-shirts and a passionate speech by Mayor Richard Daley outlining his commitment to make Chicago the best biking city anywhere.

Chicago… more

Watching the Heat-Mavs game tonight, I am struck by the sea of white in the arena. Heat fans all dress in white to show their unity. It reminds me of my visit to Pamplona, Spain, during the San Fermin Festival, when participants wear white with red kerchiefs around their necks.… more

Attending the Chicago Economics Club luncheon today to hear Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, I was seated next to a big-time commercial real estate broker in the area. He was telling me that his clients are making the move from the suburbs to downtown Chicago. The obvious benefit, he said,… more

Yale Urban Planning Professor Alex Garvin, a smart, lovely man who also heads his own urban planning firm, responded in a letter to the editor to the Fake Town piece in The Wall Street Journal last week.

Alex writes, "The force creating these new shopping centers isn't a change in style… more

The Wall Street Journal is running a series on poverty, and in yesterday's first installment, "backpack clubs" to feed hungry kids on weekends were the focus. Children are given backpacks full of healthy food each Friday at school to make meals at home. The backpacks are "an emergency fix to… more

Guy Kawasaki has posted advice entry on how to kick Silicon Valley's butt. He categorizes his advice as "Stuff You Can't Do Jack About" (gorgeous setting, life-threatening enemies), "Stuff You Can Do Jack About" (educating engineers, celebrating heroes, forgiving failures, encouraging immigration), and "Stuff You Shouldn't Do Jack About"… more

A recent review of the annual state of the city addresses by mayors around the country shows consistent references to 12 challenges that are very much on their minds.

Here they are:

1. Revenue generation. As federal funds to cities dry up, cities are increasingly having to generate revenues locally. No elected… more

I have been belatedly reading transcripts from the Creative New York Conference held in April. Panelists were unusually impressive (Judith Rodin, Barry Diller, Ann Moore, Clive Gillinson, Michael Bloomberg, Bill T. Jones, Glenn Lowry, Terry Lundren and more). But several things struck me as I read.

After much fawning over New… more

As U.S. high school dropout rates eek ever upward, University of Buffalo President John B. Simpson, says two changes in perspective have take place to reverse this alarming trend in an Op-Ed he penned for The Christian Science Monitor.

First, he says, "we must acknowledge that more than just being a… more

Take a look at this astonishingly easy to interpret graphic look at today's news. Go here http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/ and hit "Launch."

Philadelphia is discovering the great outdoors exist right inside the city, and the city is making the most of it. Trail running, rowing, orienteering and disc golf are just a few of the "new sports" that reign in the city.

You can read about Philadelphia's new sports assets by clicking… more

Maybe we're in our silly mood, but the Gryphon, developed by ESG, is so cool.

According to Cool Hunting, it's a set of wings for parachutists to use to fly as far as 40km before opening their chute. "Developed for military use as a way to get troops under… more

Newsweek columnist Fareed Zakaria is always enlightening, but this week's column will be particularly interesting to urban leaders.

Although there are legitimate and growing concerns about America's competitiveness, he points out that GDP growth remains strong, averagng just over 3 percent over the past 20 years, productivity growth has… more

The experimental "housing first" program, which places the homeless directly into apartments, appears to be working, according to a story in Wednesday's New York Times.

The policy has accelerated a national movement that has reduced the number of chronically homeless in more than 20 cities. This movement has been spurred,… more

One of the most frequently emailed articles last week among urbanists is the front page story in the Wall Street Journal by Thaddeus Herrick headlined "Fake Towns Rise, Offering Urban Life without the Grit."

It's another look at the attempt by New Urbanists and others to remake the suburbs as… more

The suicide rate among young black men has doubled since 1980. One in four black men has not worked for more than a year, twice the proportion of male whites or Latinos. And trends suggest a third of black males born today will spend time in prison.

Yet, eight in 10… more

HP has announced the cancellation of telecommuting for a key division of the company.

Why? Because HP believes "bringing its information-technology employees together in the office will make them swifter and smarter," according to story in today's San Jose Mercury News.

HP CIO Randy Mott, who ordered the change, is… more

If you think prefab housing has to be ugly, think again. We've admired the FlatPak home and other models promoted by Dwell magazine. But take a look at the spread on Riken Yamamoto's Ecoms House in Kyushu featured in the current issue of Wallpaper (June-July, 2006). It is a stunning… more

Thumb through the latest issue of Wallpaper (June-July, 2006), and you'll find news of the latest fashions, hotels and collectibles. All very hip. But flip to the back of the book and you'll find a surprising feature on Curitiba, the Brazilian city that architect and former Mayor Jaime Lerner made… more

Hyperbole is nothing new when it comes to the announcement of big urban projects. And this week's unveiling of the National Jazz Museum and Jazz Park in New Orleans was no exception.

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said the project would put New Orleans back on the map (a strange statement, given… more