Start here · Essential guide
Building a Better Tomorrow: The Role of Urban Planning in City Development
A plain-language overview of what urban planning is, who does it, which tools shape city growth, and where plans succeed or fall short.
Planning and People
Renewal and Planning
Planning basics, heritage reuse, downtowns and cultural districts.
Adaptive Reuse: Transforming Historic Buildings for Modern Use
How old factories, schools, offices and civic buildings are converted to new uses, and the trade-offs in retrofit cost, code compliance and heritage value.
Balancing Tradition and Modernity in City Revitalization
How revitalization decisions weigh local character and shared memory against new construction and modern needs, and how cities handle those trade-offs.
Creating Sustainable Cities: Strategies for Urban Planning
A stage-by-stage walk through a typical planning process, from vision and data to adoption and review, with notes on where the public gets a say.
Creating Vibrant Cultural Districts: Strategies for Urban Development
How cities designate and support cultural districts, which tools help artists and venues stay, and why popularity can raise rents and displace the creators.
Creating Vibrant Downtowns: Strategies for Urban Development
How cities revive central business districts with housing, mixed uses and active streets as office patterns change, and the uncertainties involved.
From Suburbs to Cities: How Urban Renewal Can Shape the Future of Urbanization
How car-oriented suburbs add mixed uses, transit and town centers, what suburban retrofit involves, and what is generally known about urbanization trends.
Rethinking Urban Planning: Innovative Approaches to City Building
An introduction to newer planning methods such as tactical urbanism, scenario planning and data tools, with a candid look at their limits.
Revitalizing City Culture: Urban Renewal Strategies for Arts and Culture
How cities use arts and culture as a renewal theme through cultural plans, inventories, funding and programming, and why success can push artists out.
The Art of City Development: Balancing Growth and Sustainability
How planners weigh growth pressure against environmental limits using growth boundaries, phasing and infrastructure tests, and the honest trade-offs involved.
The Challenges of Urban Renewal: Lessons from Successful Projects
The obstacles renewal projects commonly face, including funding gaps, delays, opposition and displacement, and what projects often learn, using generic examples.
Urban Renewal and the Built Environment: Strategies for Revitalizing Aging Infrastructure
How cities assess, prioritize and finance the rebuilding of aging buildings, streets and networks, and how they weigh repairing against replacing.
Related topics
More in planning and people
Inclusive Cities Equity, diversity and renewal without displacement. Vacant Property Reuse Bringing abandoned buildings and lots back into use. Blight and Regeneration What blight means and how neighborhoods are redeveloped. Historic Districts Renewing older neighborhoods while respecting their heritage. Neighborhood Revitalization Renewing whole neighborhoods with residents, housing and local services. Housing and Equity Housing costs, markets and fairness in renewal and development. Community Impact of Renewal Effects of renewal on culture, services, health, politics and daily life. Community Engagement How residents take part in shaping development and renewal. Governance and Policy How government, planning and design carry public policy into the city. Project Delivery The practical steps between a renewal idea and a finished project. Maps, Surveys and Evidence Simple methods planners use to see what is happening in a place.