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City of Merced finds itself increasingly caught between two worlds: that of the traditional agricultural economy of the Central Valley, the knowledge-based economy of higher education >>read more

After two decades of negotiation, the new master-planned town of Centennial has been cleared for 12,323 acres of the 270,000-acre Tejon Ranch >> read more

The Fort Ord Regional Urban Design Guidelines, adopted last year by the Ford Ord Base Reuse Authority, attempts to usher in appropriate development for the 28,000-acre site >>read more

Proposition 64 affirms that localities have significant discretion to decide whether and how to allow cannabis-related business activities, including cultivation, processing, and retail sales. >>read more

Manhattan Beach wants to be the opposite of its namesake. >>read more

More than 50 ballot measures around state deal with growth, transportation, parks. >>read more

For all the appeal that “streamlining” would seem to offer, Gov. Jerry Brown's housing proposal has drawn stiff criticism – including some from traditional proponents of affordable housing. >>read more

Like a monster that’s been hiding in the basement for decades, rent control is rearing its head in the Bay Area. Whether it is an ugly countenance or a smiling face is a matter of perspective. >>read more

What do touchdowns, trade shows, room service, rivers, and dorm rooms have in common? In San Diego, quite a bit.

Spooked by the possible relocation of the San Diego Chargers football team, the city is doubling down on opportunities not only to retain the Chargers but also to pursue a host of other initiatives related to tourism and economic development. The matters may be resolved through one of two competing measures that are expected to appear on upcoming ballots. >>read more

Coastal California has long been known for harrowing natural hazards: wildfires, drought, floods, the occasional tsunami, and, of course, earthquakes. It has also developed some serious human-made hazards too: chronic poverty, sea level rise, crime, pollution, riots, fragile energy grids, stratospheric housing costs, among others. 

The state is, as urban theorist Mike Davis put it, steeped in "the ecology of fear." Armed with new data and strategies, cities are trying to ease their anxieties. 

"Resilience" refers to cities' ability to weather and recover from discrete "shocks," such as earthquakes, and chronic "stresses," such as poverty and the predicted effects of climate change. California has become Ground Zero in the resilience movement.
 
Four California cities - Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Francisco - have appointed "chief resilience officers" as part of a worldwide experiment in hazard mitigation and bureaucratic reform sponsored by New York-based nonprofit 100 Resilient Cities (100RC), project of the Rockefeller Foundation. >>read more