Urban Planning and Development

Jana Elementary School

How WWII-Era Radioactive Waste Fueled a New Crisis at a Missouri Elementary School How WWII-Era Radioactive Waste Fueled a New Crisis at a Missouri Elementary School

Conflicting reports of contamination have worried residents of Florissant, a community that continues to suffer from the legacy of the Manhattan Project.

Jul 10, 2023 / StudentNation / Walter Thomas-Patterson

Visitors, employees, and future residents stand at the topping-out ceremony for a residential building in Frankfurt, Germany.

Living Communally Can Make Us Less Lonely Living Communally Can Make Us Less Lonely

We’ve been convinced that single-family houses on our own plots of land or isolated flats in towers signal success. Yet, for many of us, these habitats prove far from ideal.

Jun 28, 2023 / Kristen R. Ghodsee

How Freddie Mac Helps Private Equity Profit From Tenant Misery

How Freddie Mac Helps Private Equity Profit From Tenant Misery How Freddie Mac Helps Private Equity Profit From Tenant Misery

Overloaded with debt, with maintenance and repairs cut back to the bone, tenants are being bled dry to make millions for speculators—with a crucial assist from the Federal Home Loa...

Jun 13, 2023 / Feature / Eileen Markey

A New Orleans family travels to their home near New Orleans, La., after it was flooded during Hurricane Ida on September 13, 2021.

On a Rapidly Warming Planet, Home Is a Luxury On a Rapidly Warming Planet, Home Is a Luxury

The importance of place and the draw of home is at odds with the future we have created for our planet.

Jun 8, 2023 / Jane Braxton Little

Urban sprawl, Las Vegas, Nev.

The Case Against Homeownership The Case Against Homeownership

Instead of perpetuating the Ponzi scheme of private property for some, we should be demanding economic security for all.

Jun 5, 2023 / Jane Chung

Cherelle Parker speaks at a podium

Philadelphia’s Next Mayor Will Almost Certainly Be a Black Woman Philadelphia’s Next Mayor Will Almost Certainly Be a Black Woman

Yet, for all her claims to history, primary winner Cherelle Parker was the status quo candidate in a city where the status quo is badly broken.

May 18, 2023 / Gene Seymour

Los Angeles traffic

Can America Go Car-Free? Gen Z Hopes So. Can America Go Car-Free? Gen Z Hopes So.

Young people today are already driving less, but breaking the country’s car-dependency will require unprecedented investment in infrastructure and public transit.

May 17, 2023 / StudentNation / Hannah Reynolds

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks to a crowd

Turkish Election Aftershock: Despite Unity on the Left, the Opposition Falls Short Turkish Election Aftershock: Despite Unity on the Left, the Opposition Falls Short

Defying predictions of his political demise, the country's authoritarian president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan came first on Sunday and is now favored to win reelection in the runoff on M...

May 16, 2023 / Kaya Genç

Philadelphia’s historic City Hall

Pick ’Em: Making Sense of the Free-for-All Primary for Mayor of Philadelphia Pick ’Em: Making Sense of the Free-for-All Primary for Mayor of Philadelphia

For a job the current incumbent seems eager to leave, the contest has drawn a remarkably diverse field of candidates—and no obvious front-runner.

Apr 26, 2023 / Gene Seymour

An Arkansas girl in migrant camp near Greenfield, Salinas Valley, Calif., 1939

How Reading “The Economist” Helped Me to Stop Worrying About White Supremacy How Reading “The Economist” Helped Me to Stop Worrying About White Supremacy

A recent viral sensation identifies the migration of poor whites as the cause of the problem—letting the rest of us off the hook!

Apr 21, 2023 / Sarah Taber

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