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I came across this mind blowing article in The Bulletin newspaper about a new high-end real estate project on Rittenhouse Square. One thing that is particularly surprising is 300 people showed up for the unveiling including Dwight Evans, Chaka Fattah, Lynne Abraham, and Michael Nutter. What a strage array of folks for the opening of a condo building. What kind of interests are really involved here? Where is the money coming from? As one of the new purchasers quoted in the article "The general rules don't apply in this case". Fascinating!

When 200 residents of the Lindley Court Apartments in Logan lost their homes with two hours’ notice on Saturday, June 21st, the building' fire alarm system didn’t work, raw sewage festered in the basement, putrid garbage piled up atop overflowing dumpsters, and there was no water because the copper pipes had been stolen.

Check out this from Gihan Perera with the Miami Workers Center

After a brief cooling off period, we just had to round things out with the second part of the whimsical musings of some of our newest 'urban pioneers'. Welcome to Philadelphia (and kids, watch out for the anthrax ;) )!

Check this out. . . Culture, Creativity and the City: Town Hall Meeting and Reception DATE: Sunday, September 9th, 2007 TIME: 5:30-7:30PM; Reception to follow LOCATION: The Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT: www.culturecreativityandthecity.com The Culture, Creativity and the City Town Hall Meeting at The Painted Bride Art Center on September 9th, 2007 from 5:30 - 7:30PM with a reception to follow is a free event during the Philadelphia Live Arts/Fringe Festival. Philadelphia's expanding and maturing Creative Sector is at an important and critical juncture. Many public and private sector opinion makers, civic leaders, and elected officials agree that there is an opportunity in this emerging political climate to harness the energy of the Creative Sector to consolidate Philadelphia revitalization and create the conditions to drive the economy and the creative sector.

This article does a good service of covering how gentrification is happening systematically all across the country. The article addresses the issue in Miami, but it links the 'redevelopment' in Detroit to the same corporations that are 'redeveloping' Miami. A good read.

via colorlines.com

A UN report was released yesterday says that starting in 2008 a majority of the world's population will live in cities rather than rural areas for the first time ever in history. The report states that cities, especially smaller cities, are not planning for the shift. Services for the majority of city dwellers are not being created or maintained. Instead, city policytends to try to keep the poorout of cities through lack of affordable housing and public transportation. Read a story about the report below:

NPRinterview with president and CEO of the Center City District in Philadelphia, Paul Levy, and his group's plans for the development of Center City.

Listen to this show via Real Audio

Levyarguesthat what's good for Center City is good for all of Philadelphia.He laysouta vision of a further 'transformed' Center City and details specific plans that the Center City District will push for.

This article takes about the city trying to prevent blight in the suburbs of Cleveland.It tells of sub-prime mortgages that low income folks are unable to pay back and the city's foreclosure prevention program. Many interviewed in the story tell of confusion and frustration of losing homes they have lived in much of their lives or homes they bought and expected to live out the rest of their lives in, similar to stories we have heard here in Philly.

By ERIK ECKHOLM

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — In a sign of the spreading economic fallout of mortgage foreclosures, several suburbs of Cleveland, one of the nation' hardest-hit cities, are spending millions of dollars to maintain vacant houses as they try to contain blight and real-estate panic.

The Newsweek article below tells us the story of rising housing prices in the major cities around the world and sites those who say the international housing market in the super wealthy center cities of the world looks nowhere near coming to an end. Though the authors set the piece in Manhattan, they tell readers that the international housing boom is not limited to traditionally wealthy countries. The fastest growing housing markets are in rapidly urbanizing places like Shanghai and Mumbai, where "prime-real-estate prices shot up by 90 percent in 2006".