Freakonomics author Steven Levitt disputes the new report making headlines by James Alan Fox that homicide rates of black teens are up.  Turns out that Fox failed to adust for the increase in the number of blacks ages 15 to 19, which rose 15 percent between 2000 and… more

Congratulations to Scotland for having the forethought to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy (IYA), marking the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s telescope with Galloway Forest Park announcing its plans to become Europe’s first “dark sky park.”

The Bldgblog reports that the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) web site… more

Gentrification is not exactly a hot topic at the moment, given falling real estate prices. (I've been in Aspen since Christmas, and there are "For Sale" signs all over town.)  However, Joe Cortright sent me an interesting post on gentrification from Matthew Yglesias.

Matt writes he doesn't like to… more

Steelcase's Workspring makes Springwise's top ten list for 2008. Debuting in Chicago and host to part of our last National Meeting, Workspring is a new urban amenity that offers a fresh setting for collaboration.

With thousands of stores expected to close next year, the big question for cities will be what to do with the vacancies.  Because most cities depend on sales tax, most have overzoned for retail locations.  Think about the impact of a long-term vacancy of one or two houses on a… more

From Springwise...

Launched late last month, Connect by Hertz now offers car sharing in London, Paris and New York City. In New York, members can choose from among three plans, depending on how often they drive. All three give consumers 180 free miles per day and free gas;… more

The things that make a city delightful -- like parks, historic sites, museums and beaches - disproportionally attracted highly educated individuals and experienced faster housing price appreciation, according to "City Beautiful," a paper published this month by Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia economists Gerald A. Carlino and Albert… more

Loved this outlook from Cameron Kitchin, the new director of Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, about art "outreach":

"Sometimes we ask the question the wrong way.  Instead of how do we encourage more people to care, it should be how do we make ourselves into an institution that people feel… more

End of year cleaning brought to the surface a 10-year old paper by Ash Amin, University of Durham, on regional economic development. Given the times, it still seems relevant. 

** Policy actions designed to strengthen networks of association are more desirable than those that focus on individual actors.
**… more

Many of the communities with the biggest job losses are those whose populations are shrinking.  The worst possible investment would be in infrastructure that fuels sprawl... putting too few people on too much land.  In fact, what most of these communities need is a massive investment in people in the… more

Today's announcement that The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun will begin sharing stories and photos as a cost-saving measure is a concrete example of regionalism in action.  In the case of the newspapers, it makes sense. 

It also makes sense for local governments to form regional pacts to support… more

Bob Yaro, who continues to lead on good regional planning from his post as head of New York's Regional Plan Association, has prepared a statement to the new administration on the economic stimulus plan that outlines a five step program for infrastructure investment as part of the America 2050 Coalition:

I am sitting at O'Hare awaiting a new aircraft to take me to San Diego.  The flight was scheduled to leave at 8:10 a.m.  It is now 10 a.m.  Since I boarded a CTA blue line train at 6:20 a.m., the morning has generally been pretty miserable so far.  But… more

Only about one in 10 Americans moved in the last year — roughly half the proportion that changed residences as recently as four decades ago, census data show.

According to The New York Times, the Current Population Survey found that fewer than 12 percent of Americans moved since 2007,… more

This morning's NYT carried a full page of pictures and bios on President-elect Barack Obama's key appointments.  The last one on the page:  Aldolfo Carrion to lead the Office of Urban Policy.  Just one problem:  To my knowledge Obama hasn't yet made that announcement.  U.S. mayors met with Valerie Jarrett,… more

Paul O’Connor, former head of World Business Chicago and one of the smartest urbanists around, was my guest for a recent video conference.  Paul always has provocative things to say. Reviewing my notes of our conversation tonight on a flight from LaGuardia to Chicago that I almost missed, I was… more

Mayors meet in Chicago Thursday with Valerie Jarrett, White House Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison.  Jarrett is expected also to have the new Office of Urban Policy reporting to her.  Reports are that mayors will at minimum describe the type candidate they… more

Congress for the New Urbanism CEO John Norquist warns the President-elect on the pitfalls of moving without consideration on the portion of the economic stimulus package calling for new roads and bridges. He writes:

With six weeks to go before he moves into the White House, Barack Obama is… more

The Economist warns that America is in danger of getting the wrong kind of infrastructure. Thank goodness some credible organization has finally said it.

U.S. infrastructure problems result from two causes, "the smaller of which is lack of money." But "the greater problem is the lack of a strategy.… more

NYT notes the demographic changes brought on by NYC's renaissance. 

Since 2000, the number of young children living in parts of Lower Manhattan has nearly doubled. The poverty rate declined in all but one New York City neighborhood. A majority of Bronx residents are… more

There are some big names on the list, including former Sec. of Transportation Norman Mineta and Virginia Gov. Tim Kane.  One pleasant surprise?  There's a lot of talk about rail.  Deron Lovaas, the Federal Transportation Policy Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, urges: "Rail mileage should double so that… more

Speaking to a group from Lakeland, Florida, last week in Austin (where I was tagging along), Pike Powers warned the Florida city's leaders looking for answers that "We make it up as we go along.  Everyone does."

Pike is widely acknowledged as the godfather of Austin's growth strategy over… more

Austin is one of the nation's most successful cities.  The nation's 14th largest city with 800,000 population, Austin is bigger than Washington, San Francisco and Boston.  It is also the nation's youngest big city.

Mayor Will Wynn is contending with the addition of 85 new cars on Austin… more

When Jimmy Carter urged Americans to turn their thermostats down to 68 degrees, the fashion industry responded by making long skirts, boots, leg warmers and layered sweaters the look of the season.

In other words, Americans don't sacrifice. They make sacrifice fashionable.

That story came to mind when I read… more

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom released the following letter today to congressional leadership. The mayors are advocating for Congress not to reallocate funds intended for advanced transportation technology innovation and identify a different mechanism to finance efforts to improve the viability of the American… more

Richard Florida challenges the current approach to the global financial crisis.  The problem, according to Richard, is that we are stuck in an industrial economy mindset.  We still do not take seriously the idea-driven economy that is emerging.

"The first step," Richard wrote in his November 29 Globe and… more

Two pioneers in the anchor institutions movement and I were in Philadelphia Monday night to exchange ideas on the challenges to anchors.  Hank Webber, now at Washington University but long at University of Chicago, and Ira Harkavy at the University of Pennsylvania have led ambitious initiatives on behalf of their… more

The "broken windows" theory had its day in the sun during the "zero tolerance" policies of the Giuliani adminsitration in New York.  Petty crime, such as graffiti and subway turnstile jumping, were not to be tolerated because, according to the theory, observing disorder has a psychological effect on people. 

The… more

As reported by Politico:  "To the nation’s mayors, Barack Obama seems a little like Santa Claus — with a big sack of federal money to build local projects that would help stimulate the nation’s faltering economy.

"With infrastructure investment a key tenet of the economic… more

Beginning this month, a local Cleveland grassroots think tank wil run a social marketing campaign to convince kids -- specifically black boys 10-13 years old -- that education pays.

PolicyBridge, the group responsible for the campaign, says its goal is to supplant the anti-education and other negative… more

The Knight Foundation and Gallup Consulting have just published their Soul of the Community research.  The purpose of the study was to understand what drives "engagement" or commitment to community and how each of Knight's communities ranked on "community citizen engagement" or CCE. 

Several findings stand out.  Aesthetics… more

Today's Washington Post has a good analysis of Frank Gehry's latest work, the Princeton Library and the addition to the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.