Lots of great material to choose from this week. Here are five of the best:

• Newspapers: The Search for a Killer Savior and How to Fix Local News I’ll kick things of with a double pick. These two articles take a look at the sorry state of our local news institutions. They both look at different models for the successes and failures, but come to very different conclusions.

• How Trying Too Hard Messes Up Main Street A look at the challenges of creating vital urban areas, especially after . I especially appreciate the author calling out the current preference for constancy in look and signage that infect most urban revitalization project. Key quote that should become a mantra for all city planners: “Simplicity trumps over-thinking. Diversity beats consistency. Many hands outperform controlled authority.”

• A Question of Nomenclature: What is a Neighborhood? Neighborhood is one of those wordsthat is used often but eludes a precise definition. This somewhat lengthy post takes a look as the various aspects of what a neighborhood is, and whether a precise definition even really matters?

• Why the anti-urban bias? Harvard prof and noted commentator Ed Glaeser, takes a look at the anti-urban bias in the United States that is continuing even despite President Obama’s supposedly pro-city agenda.

• Lessons in Learning for the Future Prosperity of Cities How cities can use both formal institution and informal structures to adapt to the systemic changes that they are facing. It discusses how cities can bridge the gaps between different players, skills and insights to create prosperous cities.

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