Chicago’s Aqua Tower is an 82-story concrete structure with more than 1.9 million square feet (176,500 sq m); tenth-tallest building in Chicago. Rated LEED-NC (for new construction) under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program of the U.S. Green Building Council. Construction cost is estimated at $300 million per GreenSource magazine.

Retail, housing, and activity are among the keys to successful infill development. And don’t forget about parking.

Transit measures fared well with voters in November. But debate continues over the best choice — rail or enhanced bus service?

Top cities ranked by Zipcar based on sustainability, innovation, vibrancy, efficiency, and livability. Number one—the city by the bay.

Leveraging city, county, community college, and private investment and using a form-based code, the Airport Boulevard project in Austin, Texas, is a model for corridor redevelopment worth emulating.

All across America, surface parking lots dot metropolitan landscapes, serving the same solitary purpose day after day. But in some parts of the country, these underused parcels of real estate are becoming the new frontier in solar power. So far in 2011, thousands of solar panels have been constructed over parking lots in California, Maryland, Ohio, and New Jersey, among other places.

From Australia to Canada, from the U.K. to the U.S, see ten examples where cash-strapped city and state governments get new or refurbished parks, libraries, or recreation facilities. Private sector partners get added value such as higher home prices and enhanced foot traffic for retail, entertainment, and dining uses. In some cases, the private sector partner builds and operates justice or transit structures in exchange for development rights.

Conservation development technologies have been around for decades, but only in the past few years have developers, conservation organizations, landowners, and local governments begun to understand the potential of these technologies to link land conservation with land development while providing meaningful protection of natural resources. In addition, ample evidence exists that shows homebuyers will pay premium prices to live next to nature, green space, and even certain types of agriculture.