Hawthorne, California, has gone from near financial catastrophe to having one of the highest assessed values in Los Angeles County. Read how redevelopment of the Los Angeles Air Force Base and the Hawthorne Municipal Airport, both near Los Angeles International Airport, provided housing, light-industrial space, and retail space and helped spark the local economy.

Los Angeles’s entertainment and retail centers, the fastest growing of which are bolstering urban cores throughout the region, have been a source of economic strength even as the housing market—traditionally a prime economic engine—for the most part has dramatically deflated. Read about the changes that have occurred in this sector of the LA. economy, and the changes still to come.

A $295 million shared education and research facility for four universities in downtown Portland, Oregon, is intended to address a long list of objectives in one facility. Read about the many opportunities for both physical and financial savings created by co-locating programs from the universities, and the method devised to allocate space annually among the facility’s constituent institutions.

As scientists from a variety of disciplines share knowledge in pursuit of new treatments, municipal governments pool resources with the private sector to create biotechnology clusters, universities team with nonprofits, and nonprofits work with for-profit firms to speed the “bench to bedside” process. Read about ten projects that take an innovative approach to fostering interaction and creativity.

Seniors’ housing is moving back into the city and near a transit stop to appeal to baby boomers, the first wave of whom have already turned 65. Rather than being a seniors’ enclave, this new style of housing for seniors is intended to be integrated with the community and offer amenities and convenience. Read more to learn how the Long Beach Senior Arts Colony in California intends to do just that.

Hong Kong–based Swire Properties is planning Brickell CitiCentre (BCC), a nine-acre (3.6-ha) mixed-use development in the heart of Miami’s Brickell Financial District. And in May, Genting Malaysia Bhd announced plans to build Resorts World Miami after buying a 13.9-acre (5.6-ha) piece of land. Read how downtown Miami’s fast-growing residential population has made these projects possible.

As the number of U.S. factory jobs continues to shrink, cities increasingly find themselves with underused or abandoned industrial land. Where these sites border residential areas, the result is blight and increased crime. Read how the Oakland, California, housing authority took aging public housing on a blighted site and remade it to strengthen connections to nearby residences and community amenities.

Digital technology revolutionized the way entertainment professionals work, bringing about a convergence of media, entertainment, and technology that allows creative companies to downsize their workspace and locate wherever they please. Read about districts that are attracting entertainment firms with their interesting, edgy architecture and attractive lifestyle amenities and services.

In the age of creativity and innovation, developing “creative clusters” is vital to meeting the challenges of a new, global, knowledge-based economy. Read what visionaries in places like Chicago and Miami are doing to develop jobs-producing creative hubs targeting designers, graphic designers, and others representing one of fastest growth sectors of the new economy, the creative industries.

Parks are increasingly being viewed as fiscal drains that further endanger a mayor’s bottom line. To counter that view comes Alexander Garvin, thinker in the realm of cities and public spaces. Read a review of his book Public Parks: The Key to Livable Communities, in which he presents the rationale for considering public parks as fundamental components of the built environment.