• Neighborhood additions work against displacement

    Four developments in Deanwood, DC, show the transformative potential of multiple projects that include low-income housing in a single Opportunity Zone.
    Tom Gallas calls it “ADDification:” Adding affordable housing, services, and amenities to neighborhoods with new buildings that don’t displace existing residents. That’s the approach in Deanwood—a neighborhood east of the Anacostia River in Washington, DC. That area long suffered disinvestment and...Read more

  • It was the Boomers, in the cul-de-sac, with a stack of zoning laws

    It doesn't take much digging to find that generational blame for sprawl doesn’t add up and gets us no closer to a solution—for that, we need a more targeted approach.
    I read in The Atlantic’s current issue that Baby Boomers are to blame for a wide range of societal ills, notably restrictive zoning and parking regulations. Lyman Stone’s indictment, in an article bluntly titled “ Baby Boomers Ruined Everything ,” rests on “increasing frequency with which various...Read more

  • Drawing is worth a thousand words

    Nuanced pencil drawings help to graphically explain how a design works holistically. Drawing by hand can be more informative on the design intent and typically elevates the design quality. Hand drawing can even be therapeutic for the designer and the observer. Here is a master plan detail and...Read more

  • Small industrial city diversifies its economy with urbanism

    Elkhart, Indiana, is implementing plans to attract young, talented, workers to start businesses and boost the economy.
    Elkhart, a city of 52,000 in north Indiana, is not a place that is well known nationally for its urban revival. Yet Elkhart adopted a plan for a $400 million, 90-acre “River District” across from downtown. The district offers a setting for substantial new urbanist development, including a thousand...Read more