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James Fallows discusses China’s plan to expand its airlines, build more airports, and jump-start its aerospace industry. In China Airborne, he shows the extraordinary scale of this project and explains why it is a crucial test case for China’s hopes for modernization and innovation in other industries.

The proposed Broadway Triangle development has been halted by a judge on grounds that it benefits part of the community more than another. Jerilyn Perine, executive director of Citizens Housing and Planning Council and former Commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, explains how the Broadway Triangle project and other developments like it come to be, how interests are represented, and what might have gone wrong at the Brooklyn site. 

Sharif El-Gamal, the developer of the Park51 project, talks about the passionate national debate that was sparked last year when the Islamic Community Center and mosque was proposed. Yesterday, Park51 opened its doors.

Frontline tells the story of Sharif El-Gamal and the story of the Ground Zero Mosque controversy. “The Man Behind the Mosque” airs Tuesday, September 27, at 9 pm on PBS.

David Sloan Wilson, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University discusses his new book,  The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time . He describes how he applies Darwin's evolutionary theory to community development in search of practical strategies.

What neighborhood projects are you involved with?

The Atlantic Yards development is flying up. Eliot Brown, commercial real estate reporter for the Wall Street Journal, gives an update on the project and checks in on the World Trade Center memorial, which is racing to meet the September 11, 2011, deadline.

Motown, the city that set the world on wheels, now wants the world to consider calling it home. 

“Immigrants: come.  You’re welcome here.’’  That’s the message at the heart of a new effort by policy leaders to roll out a global welcome mat to immigrants, particularly foreign-born students. 

They paint a picture of a future Detroit where some of the more than 31,000 currently vacant homes are returned to stability by immigrants, foreign-born students and entrepreneurs with business acumen strong enough to help reverse the economic decline.   Immigration, leaders say, equals solutions.

WNYC began visiting the World Trade Center site in April 2010 and continues to document the construction of One World Trade Center, the 9/11 Memorial, the transportation hub and the people working on the site.

Massive development and urbanization are jeopardizing China's water supply. Upmanu Lall, director of the Columbia Water Center and professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University, and Christina Larson, contributing editor at Foreign Policy magazine and fellow at the New America Foundation, discuss China's efforts to deal with this challenge, and urbanization and water issues worldwide.

"Xanadu" is now "American Dream Meadowlands" and it's going to be the biggest mall in the US. Bob Hennelly, WNYC Reporter, talks about the ambitious new development, what it means for Chris Christie's administration, and other local news.

In Long Island City, Queens, there's a five-story, mostly empty warehouse where graffiti is legal. It’s called 5Pointz, and for years, the building's owner has allowed graffiti artists to spray paint most of the facade.

The Brooklyn Flea, already well known in the brownstone neighborhood of Fort Greene, has opened another location along the East River in Williamsburg.

Kristen Lewis, co-director of the American Human Development Project and co-author of The Measure of America 2010-2011: Mapping Risks and Resilience, discusses the American Human Development Index and gives a breakdown of interesting facts on New York.

A breakdown by Congressional district is available from the group's interactive map, where zipcodes can be entered to find specific indicators.

Learn more about the Big Gaps in the Big Apple: Lessons from The Measure of America, November 17, 2010, 6:30 pm at NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge.

By an overwhelming vote of 47-1, the City Council voted to allow a skyscraper to be built within four blocks of the Empire State Building in Midtown.

Will plans for a skyscraper near Penn Station that would be almost as tall as the Empire State Building "ruin" New York's skyline? Matthew Schuerman, WNYC Radio reporter, discusses the development.

The owners of the Empire State Building are objecting to a proposed 69-story skyscraper that would be built two blocks away. The new building, called 15 Penn Plaza, would go where the Hotel Pennsylvania is currently located, at 32nd Street and 7th Avenue, and would rise to about 1200 feet -- or just 25 feet lower than the top floor of the Empire State Building.

Charles Bagli, New York Times reporter, talks about the lastest developments for Stuy-Town and Peter Cooper Village, and what it means for affordable housing in NYC, post-meltdown.

One of two new trucks unveiled June 16, 2010 (Photo by Daniel P. Tucker)

The city has unveiled two powerful new trucks that really suck -- debris that ...

A development company wants to finish off a job that Donald Trump began more than two decades ago. Back then, Trump proposed to build a massive complex of office and residential buildings on a platform above an old train yard between West 59th and West 72nd streets near the Hudson ...

Coney Island's new amusement park opens this weekend.

For 100 days, workers have been scurrying around the clock to meet the Memorial Day weekend opening deadline for Coney Island's new Luna Park. They’ve unloaded 18,000 trucks, moved 3,000 tons of earth, unpacked 45 containers from Italy and assembled 19 new rides. The park operators say they’ve also gotten ...