The phrase "a recent development in" is grammatically correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when you want to describe something that has recently occurred or changed. For example, "Smart phones have revolutionized the way people communicate, and this is a recent development in communication technology."
This is kind of a recent development in my life.
The need, indeed even the possibility, of a planetary census is a recent development in cosmic history.
"Tapping the debt market is only a recent development in a region where capital markets are still relatively underdeveloped".
A recent development in games of this family is that players may make up new rules of play.
The head in question is a recent development in the city, looking over the Toho Cinemas Kabukicho/Hotel Gracery Shinjuku entertainment complex in Tokyo.
The history of the US – slavery and the civil war, for instance – is only a recent development in their view, and almost irrelevant.
A recent development in Brooklyn, where small triangles of land have been reformed into pedestrian plazas, has led to a reduction in crime.
"I want you to know about a recent development in my court case," she states on the site, which she started after her indictment and where she reports receiving thousands of messages of support.
The student's article should reference and summarize the Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education Supreme Court ruling as described in the New York Times article as an example of a recent development in gender issues in sports.
Universities in countries like the United States and Germany have long had various forms of specialist teaching, but they are a recent development in Australia, according to Anthony Welch, a professor of education at the University of Sydney.
While talk of bike lanes might seem a recent development in a city not always regarded as being bike-friendly, New York was home to the country's first bike path, in 1894 — along Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn connecting Prospect Park and Coney Island, according the Transportation Department's Web site.
