For years, the city's center was Manhattan, and in many ways it still is. The subway was used as a means to commute into Manhattan for work or pleasure and then return home at night. But now the outer boroughs are becoming destinations in their own right, as well as business centers, and the Center for an Urban Future thinks it's high time the city's public transportation system represented that shift. more ›

Just as the Center for an Urban Future released its report on how NYC street fairs could benefit from a makeover, Mayor Bloomberg said, yes, the fairs aren't really adding anything—"It's all the same stuff"—and wants to limit them further, since it costs the city a lot in police overtime. In spite of street fairs being at a six-year low of 321 in 2009, Bloomberg still wants that number to go down, "I think the answer is to limit them and have them only in certain places." more ›

A new report from the Center for an Urban Future (whose previous report, "Attack of the Chains," sparked a bidding war between Fox and Warner Bros.) confirms the obvious: the so-called middle class can no longer afford to live in New York and are relocating in large numbers to the exburbs or far-flung cities like Houston, where $50,000 a year gets you the same standard of living as a $123,322 salary does in Manhattan. Don't scoff; Space City has theater, opera, ballet, air-conditioned skywalks, a Holocaust Museum—even a lively local weblog, just like the one you enjoy here! more ›

From architects and historians to novelists and developers, everyone's 2 cents have been combined into a 22-page PDF (download here). Native Brooklynite and author Jonathan Lehman said: "Look at the Mermaid Parade. That’s a thing where ...people literally came together and created something there that connected to the deep historical meaning of the place but was also new and strange and fun. It wasn’t about anyone taking profit and there wasn’t an immediate beneficiary and it helped reinvigorate the city’s imagination of the place and made it exist again." more ›

A study by the Center for an Urban Future, called Attack of the Chains? is showing that Brooklyn prefers Dunkin' Donuts over Starbucks, the Daily News reports. The center's director Jonathan Bowles says, "It has to do with different shopping culture. The Dunkin' Donuts is more a middle-class type of place than Starbucks. Not everybody can afford $4 lattes. It’s more of a working person's Starbucks." The chain has 89 outlets in Brooklyn--71 more than Starbucks in the borough. Plus, chains like KFC and Payless thrive in Brooklyn--but will gentrification slowly replace those shops with Cosi's and J.Crew? The study also provides a borough-by-borough breakdown of what stores are in each borough (did you know NYC only has two Crate & Barrel's?). more ›